Teaching Programming

[Helmut Jarausch]

On 05/03/10 14:29, Chris Rebert wrote:
> On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 5:05 AM, Samuel Williams
> <space.ship.traveller at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Dear Friends,
>>
>> I'm looking for some help from the Python community. I hope this is the
>> right place to ask for information.
>>
>> I'm putting together a website aimed at high school students and teachers,
>> and would like to make sure the following page is as good as possible:
>> http://programming.dojo.net.nz/languages/python/index
>> In particular, "Why would I learn this language?" section needs to have a
>> few paragraphs. I don't use Python predominantly so I hoped that you could
>> provide the main reasons why Python is a language someone would want to
>> learn about.
> 
> - Significant use in certain applications areas:
> * Web programming (common frameworks include Django & TurboGears)
> * Scientific and numerical computing (see SciPy and Numeric)
> - Large "batteries-included" standard library, with a large number of
> third-party libraries also available
> - Used by Industrial Light and Magic, Google/YouTube, and other big
> names (http://www.python.org/about/success/)
> - A very clean syntax and elegant design, compared to other languages
> 

I've used Perl for quite some years before I switched to Python.
I've been burnt by Perl. There so many hidden variables and states
which influence the outcome of nearly each statement in Perl,
that it is hard to understand and debug unless you're using
it several hours a day (each day).

What convinced me is clearly written in
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/3882

Please have a look at it,
Helmut.

(I'm teaching programming for more than 15 years)



-- 
Helmut Jarausch

Lehrstuhl fuer Numerische Mathematik
RWTH - Aachen University
D 52056 Aachen, Germany