[Edu-sig] Fw: [Visualpython-users] Re: strange output

[Michael Williams]

In message <001101c26baa$5d8cb4f0$9865fea9@arthur> "Arthur" <ajs@ix.netcom.com> writes:
> All of which to me speaks to the better use of language in conducting
> discussions around these points.  As far as I am aware nobody interested in
> Python as an introductory *programming* language ever raised a serious
> objection to the "/" operator behavior as it stood.  It concerned me that
> the potential for a conflict of interests between different classes of
> "novices" was never addressed in the debate.  Novices were newbies, were
> non-programmers.  But the distinction of one's with an eye toward truly
> learning programming, and ones with no interest in getting below the top
> surface of scripting a little ditty or two, were discussed as if they were
> somehow one class of folk.

FWIW, here at the University of Oxford we're beginning a teaching course using
Python as the principal language (replacing Pascal). We chose to go to the
trouble of making future/true division the default behaviour for exactly the 
reasons described in the PEP. I didn't raise an objection to the / behaviour
at the time because I wasn't using Python. I'm glad it's changing though.

The course is a *programming* course (not a physics course, although it is for
physics undergrads). You can read the handbook and my dissertaion discussing
Python's relative merits here:

http://users.ox.ac.uk/~sann1276/python/
-- 
Michael