Teaching python (programming) to children

[Emile van Sebille]

"Hung Jung Lu" <hungjunglu at yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:8ef9bea6.0111070030.d9c3793 at posting.google.com...
> huaiyu at gauss.almadan.ibm.com (Huaiyu Zhu) wrote in message
news:<slrn9uh4ru.1hg.huaiyu at gauss.almadan.ibm.com>...

<snip>

> However, that's not a task for beginners. Me having to spend 4
> postings on this thread should tell you something: many people don't
> see the whole Python.
>

Good examples.  Still, as it pertains to teaching younger children,
explaining two simple rules fix it: don't re-use names within the same
module; and, if you want values back from a function you have to ask for
them (use return).  Then, when something doesn't appear to work right, you
can point to the broken rule, the child says "Oh.. yeah.." and you both move
on.  When things progress to the point ("Oh.. yeah..Why?" ) where
understanding mutability and namespaces is possible, then it's time to move
a further step forward in a more complete review.

With these rules (and possibly a few more), I won't hesitate to start my
kids out on python.  Besides, why would you want to start them out on
anything else?  ;-)


--

Emile van Sebille
emile at fenx.com

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