What to do after Python?

[Sheila King]

On Sun, 18 Feb 2001 13:59:53 -0800, Erik Max Francis <max at alcyone.com> wrote
in comp.lang.python in article <3A9045D9.3777F585 at alcyone.com>:

:Sheila King wrote:
:
:> I must say, that I am shocked at the number of apparent *groans* over
:> C++
:> language, in this thread.
:> 
:> I teach C++ as a first programming language to high school students,
:> via the
:> AP Computer Science Curriculum. (The course I teach is supposed to be
:> equivalent to a first semester University course for CS majors.) I
:> think that
:> the trick, is to use a carefully selected subset of the C++ language.
:
:Indeed.  Often C++ is taught strictly as an extension to C, and when
:done that way you're essentially learning two languages:  C and Standard
:C++.  When learning Standard C++, there's no reason to do it
:as-an-extension-to-C.  For only one example, all the details of handling
:and processing C strings with the str... functions (which is a big
:stumbling block in C or C++-as-C for novice programmers) are totally
:unnecessary in an introductory Standard C++ class, because you have
:std::string to do all that work for you.  As another example, one
:doesn't have to deal with difficult memory management issues when you
:have std::vector and other such template classes.

Yes, the AP course offers a sting class and a vector class (called apstring
and apvector) which are very similar to the classes in the standard library,
although with fewer features. I have used these classes myself, for programs I
had to write for my coursework at Cal Poly (so I could avoid messing with
C-style strings and arrays).

:> Still, I must say that I really enjoy the Python I've been teaching
:> myself the
:> last few months. I do intend to do a number of projects in Python,
:> eventually.
:
:Indeed; I use Python for many recreational and professional projects. 
:For a major one that's public, my Web game Interstelen is being written
:in Python:  http://www.interstelen.com/

Cool. Neat site. I will have to point it out to some friends.

--
Sheila King
http://www.thinkspot.net/sheila/
http://www.k12groups.org/