How to "wow" someone new to Python

[Ned Batchelder]

On 1/16/15 10:03 AM, Chris Angelico wrote:
> Scenario: You're introducing someone to Python for the first time.
> S/he may have some previous programming experience, or may be new to
> the whole idea of giving a computer instructions. You have a couple of
> minutes to show off how awesome Python is. What do you do?
>
> I was thinking along the lines of a simple demo in the REPL, showing
> off some of Python's coolest features. But then I got stuck on the
> specifics. What are Python's best coolnesses? What makes for a good
> demo?
>
> Ideally, this should be something that can be demo'd quickly and
> easily, and it should be impressive without going into great details
> of "and see, this is how it works on the inside". So, how would you
> brag about this language?
>
> ChrisA
>

Peter Norvig's spell corrector is a compact example of a lot of Python 
power: http://norvig.com/spell-correct.html

I used it as a walk-through example for a presentation about Python at 
the DevDays conference: http://nedbatchelder.com/text/devdays.html

The second half of the presentation is a 25-line nano-templating engine 
which shows off some other good characteristics of the language.

-- 
Ned Batchelder, http://nedbatchelder.com