[python-advocacy] How programming language webpages should be designed

[Tarek Ziadé]

On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 4:59 PM, Michael Tobis <mtobis at gmail.com> wrote:
> OK, now we need to decide whether the code is aimed at beginners
> rather than professionals.
>
> I am fond of this trick as a python demo:
>
> ####
>
> # pythagorean triples
>
> def triples(upto=100):
>    R = lambda N : range(1,N+1)
>    for triple in [
>            (x, y, z) for z in R(upto) for y in R(z) for x in R(y)
>            if x*x + y*y == z*z]:
>        print triple
>
> triples()
>
> ####
>
> Exercises: 1) write it as a one-liner 2) eliminate redundant triples
> like (6,8,10) which is really the (3,4,5) triple repeated 3) make it
> go faster (it's O(N^3); not difficult to make it O(N^2))
>
> This is an elementary exercise (no imports) that shows off some less
> mundane features of Python.
>
> Showing off SimpleHTTPServer is also a good idea to demonstrate the
> ideas of included batteries.
>
> I like Dave's idea of a Twitter client.  Recursive puzzles, like
> Sudoko or 8 queens...
>
> We need to come up with examples where the objective is easy to
> understand and where python is extraordinary, at least compared to
> what they are probably already using.
>

(replying on-list, I've figured out you missed the reply-all)

Maybe a random script can be displayed when the page is displayed, so
we can have several snippets  ?

Tarek