[Tutor] Should a beginner learn Python 3.x

[spir]

Le Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:49:52 +0000,
Stephen Nelson-Smith <sanelson at gmail.com> s'exprima ainsi:

> My brother in law is learning python.  He's downloaded 3.1 for
> Windows, and is having a play.  It's already confused him that print
> "hello world" gives a syntax error....
> 
> He's an absolute beginner with no programming experience at all.  I
> think he might be following 'Python Programming for the Absolute
> Beginner", or perhaps some online guides.  Should I advise him to
> stick with 2.6 for a bit, since most of the material out  there will
> be for 2.x?  Or since he's learning from scratch, should he jump
> straight to 3.x  In which case what can you recommend for him to work
> through - I must stress he has absolutely no clue at all about
> programming, no education beyond 16 yrs old, but is keen to learn.
> 
> S.
> 

(While I'm aware this answer may launch sharp replies from some of you, I'll be bold and say what I mean;-)

I guess python is no more a language especially suited for absolute beginners for a while already. It has grown too many features, too much complication and several layers of abstraction. So, my answers would not be py2.6 or py3.1, rather py1.5.

Lua is certainly great in comparison to present python in this respect --except if you think builtin OO is a must. But lua is "prepared" for OO anyway (its tables are dict-like objects), & several libraries provide it. Lua + OO framework is close to python 1.5 from my point of view, except less builtin sweeties, and even cleaner syntax (half-way between python and pascal, but unfortunately no indented structure).

Denis
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