What killed Smalltalk could kill Python

[Mario Figueiredo]

In article <mailman.17933.1421884677.18130.python-list at python.org>, 
rosuav at gmail.com says...
> 
> Bad idea. Better to pick a language that makes it easy to get things
> right, and then work on the fun side with third-party libraries, than
> to tempt people in with "hey look how easy it is to do X" and then
> have them stuck with an inferior or flawed language. Too many people
> already don't know the difference between UTF-16 and Unicode. Please,
> educators, don't make it worse.
> 
> ChrisA


Indeed. If games and funnies is what drive beginners into programming, 
that's fine. But the educational principles of programming shouldn't be 
trashed in the process. We need serious developers in today's complex 
application systems. Not uneducated programmers with nary a knowledge of 
Software Engineering. Besides if games and funnies are the only thing 
that can drive someone into programming, I'd rather not see that person 
become a developer.

"I want to become a programmer so I can make games" is, on the vast 
majority of cases, the quote of someone who will never become a 
programmer. Why should teachers reward that kind of thought?