Python is wierd!

[Peter Schneider-Kamp]

Jonathan wrote:
> 
> 1. There are no keywords to declare static or instance variables; it
> 2. No *formal* declaration of static class methods, e.g. no 'static'
> 3. No keywords to differentiate between passing arguments by reference
[...]
> it; but i don't think it's suitable to be a first programming language
> for non-programmers(i read somewhere about this project going on).
> Pascal(for procedural) and Java(for OOP) is still the better choice to
> start off, IMHO.

I think especially for non-programmers, it is a quite good language.
Consider your three points above: A non-programmer is not going to
care about static variables/classes/passing conventions.

I think it's true that compared to many other languages these things
are a bit weird (magic), but in most cases they do what you want them
to do.

In Python you can write nearly pseudo code, e.g. with for element in list
and other constructions.

Peter
--
Peter Schneider-Kamp          ++47-7388-7331
Herman Krags veg 51-11        mailto:peter at schneider-kamp.de
N-7050 Trondheim              http://schneider-kamp.de