Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!feeder.erje.net!eu.feeder.erje.net!newsfeed.fsmpi.rwth-aachen.de!news.unit0.net!cyclone03.ams2.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!voer-me.highwinds-media.com!peer03.am1!peering.am1!npeersf04.am4!fx36.am4.POSTED!not-for-mail Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed; delsp=yes Newsgroups: comp.lang.python Subject: Re: Experiences/guidance on teaching Python as a first programming language References: <20131212213602.806ef8fd2626ca6f34bc83d6@gmx.net> <20131216213225.2006b30246e3a08ee241a191@gmx.net> <20131217165144.39bf9ba1cd4e4f27a96893ca@gmx.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit From: "Rhodri James" Organization: The Wildebestiary Message-ID: User-Agent: Opera Mail/12.16 (Linux) Lines: 17 NNTP-Posting-Host: 81.97.70.240 X-Complaints-To: http://netreport.virginmedia.com X-Trace: 1387414145 81.97.70.240 (Thu, 19 Dec 2013 00:49:05 UTC) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2013 00:49:05 UTC Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2013 00:49:04 -0000 X-Received-Body-CRC: 1009774634 X-Received-Bytes: 2068 Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:62351 On Tue, 17 Dec 2013 15:51:44 -0000, Wolfgang Keller wrote: > The only issue for me was to figure out how to do in C what I already > knew in Pascal. And I had to waste a *lot* more time and mental effort > to mess with that language than it took for me to learn *both* the > basics of programming per se *and* Pascal in the first class at my home > university. It's sounds like you made, and are carrying on making, one of the classic mistakes of software engineering: you're trying to write one language in the style of another. It is possible to write C code as if it were Pascal, but it's a painful process and it won't be pretty. It's far better to use a language as it is rather than as you want it to be. -- Rhodri James *-* Wildebeest Herder to the Masses