Experiences/guidance on teaching Python as a first programming language

[Mark Lawrence]

On 18/12/2013 18:05, Grant Edwards wrote:
> On 2013-12-18, Roy Smith <roy at panix.com> wrote:
>> In article <l8pvsl$60h$1 at reader1.panix.com>,
>>   Grant Edwards <invalid at invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>> Ideally, you should also have written at least one functioning
>>> compiler before learning C as well.
>>
>> Why?  I've never written a compiler.  I've written plenty of C.  I don't
>> see how my lack of compiler writing experience has hindered my ability
>> to write C.
>
> I've always felt that there are features in C that don't make a lot of
> sense until you've actually implemented a compiler -- at which point
> it becomes a lot more obvious why some thing are done certain ways.
>
> Maybe that's just me. I had written a compiler before I learned C, and
> there were things that made perfect sense to me that seemed to confuse
> others I worked with who were learning C at the same time.
>

I've never contemplated writing a compiler, let alone actually written 
one.  It's like the comments along the lines of "you can't call yourself 
a programmer until you've mastered regular expressions".  Some of my 
mates who work on air traffic management systems have maybe never heard 
of a regex but who cares, I certainly don't.

-- 
My fellow Pythonistas, ask not what our language can do for you, ask 
what you can do for our language.

Mark Lawrence