Python Learning

[Marko Rauhamaa]

Chris Angelico <rosuav at gmail.com>:

> On Sat, Dec 16, 2017 at 11:41 PM, Marko Rauhamaa <marko at pacujo.net> wrote:
>> ram at zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram):
>>>   As a start, one should learn:
>>>
>>>     1.) how to install Python
>>>         (if not already installed)
>>>
>>>     2.) how to start the Python console
>>>         (if not already started)
>>>
>>>     3.) how to type characters into a line of the
>>>         console and how to submit the line (using
>>>         the Enter key) (if this is not already known)
>>
>> A good list. Even more important, though, is the installation, use and
>> understanding of a text editor. What is the difference of MS Word,
>> Notepad and a Python-aware text editor? What text editors are there?
>> What is a newline? What is whitespace? (Advanced: what is a TAB.) What
>> is the difference between lower case and upper case? What is trailing
>> whitespace? What is an underscore? What is the difference between a
>> parenthesis, bracket and a brace?
>>
>> What is a file? What is a filename? What is a directory/folder? What is
>> a pathname? What is a terminal (emulator)? What is standard input? What
>> is standard output?
>>
>> How do I see the listing of files? How do I erase a file? How do I
>> rename a file? What is the current working directory? How do I change it
>> and why?
>
> ... at which point you realize that you're deep in TL;DR territory and
> none of what you mentioned will be even thought about.

Hm. I don't think you can get away from getting acquainted with all of
the above before you can write your first "Hello, World!" program in
Python.

It was simpler when I first learned Basic. There were no files, and your
REPL was your editor. The ingenious line numbers took the role of the
text editor.

Unfortunately, Python's indentation mechanism makes the REPL too
frustrating an environment to type in even the simplest of function
definitions, let alone a whole class.


Marko