Python too complex ?!?!?!

[MonkeeSage]

On Nov 17, 7:46 am, Brian <not_here at no_where.com> wrote:
> Had a unsettling conversation with a CS instructor that
> teaches at local high schools and the community
> college. This person is a long-term Linux/C/Python
> programmer, but he claims that the install, config, and
> library models for C# have proved to be less
> problematic than Python. So both his courses (intro,
> data structs, algorithms) are taught in C#.
>
> I am a low-end (3-year) journeyman Pythonista, and I
> was attracted to the language because of its
> simplicity. And I have come to enjoy the richness of
> available libraries.
>
> Many of the good people of this NG may be 'too close'
> to answer, but has Python, as a general devel platform,
> lost its simplicity ? Is library install too complex
> and unreliable ? Will my dog go to heaven ?

I started out with some javascript and ruby background, and I
"mastered" (i.e., could do everything I wanted to do in) python in a
few months (including playing with the GTK bindings). I only have a
GED, so I'm not the smartest programmer in the world or anything. But
even so, the learning curve for python, for me, was very gradual.
Nothing to too complex to swallow a spoonful at a time. After several
years of using python (a very short time in the long-run, mind you), I
think that the basic concepts are as simple as ever, and it remains a
prime candidate for a CS 101 course.

On the other hand, C# and .NET seems like a lot of baggage to bring to
the table. First off, you have to introduce the CLR and how it relates
to C#, then you have to deal with all the public, private, etc,
syntaxis for constructors/destructors. I don't see how anyone could
claim that C# is simpler to teach than python. I mean, (non-PC
statement follows), it's easier to teach retarded, blind children to
recite the lord's prayer backwards, in sign language, than it is to
get a working .net environment set up for actual use w/o installing
the latest visual studio. And not everyone had five-million dollars
(or a corporate license) to get the latest and greatest VS.

Regards,
Jordan