Difference between default arguments and keyword arguments

[Edward Diener]

Roy Smith wrote:
> "John Roth" <newsgroups at jhrothjr.com> wrote:
>> In going through the tutorial I also noticed that it explained
>> the * notation, but not the ** notation. I think this also needs
>> to be repaired - if one is in the tutorial, both should be.
>
> I suspect this will be an unpopular opinion, but I don't think either
> belong in the tutorial.
>
> I think the function of a tutorial is to introduce somebody to the
> main features of the language, not cover every nook and cranny of the
> syntax. The * and ** syntaxes (synti?), while certainly useful, are
> also somewhat advanced topics.  I think their appearance in an
> introductory document is misplaced.

Along the same lines, I would like to add to that the explanation for
classes in the tutorial is very poor since it assumes a much higher
understanding of Python than a tutorial should about the language. A much
simpler and more direct explanation regarding classes in Python would be
much better. While I mostly got it because I have programmed extensively in
other OOP languages, I would expect your average Python beginner to be
completely lost by much of the high-level explanation in that chapter.
Whoever wrote it was much more interested in explaining the theory of
classes in Python, to beginners no less !, than they were toward explaining
what classes are in Python and how to use them. And why iterators and
generators are included in that chapter are beyond me. Also the tutorial
mentions some usages of classes, in previous sections, before the
explanation of classes occur, which I feel is definitely a mistake.