There is also the point of best for what job? Best programming language discussions are mostly just flame wars, and I like to address them by saying there is no best programming language; it depends on the knowledge of the person doing the coding, what they are trying to accomplish, and possibly the environment/what all is available on the particular machine that the code will run on.
cheers, Maria On Thu, Mar 24, 2016 at 3:27 PM, Giuseppe Profiti < [email protected]> wrote: > Related, even if not properly in topic. > While attending the SWC train the trainers course in September, I took > a note about the "just" and how to keep an I-can-do-it attitude in the > learners. > Then, in January, I had the chance to try to be more aware of that > while teaching Python in a Master's degree course (70-80% of students > .usually have a background in biology or biotech). > > Of course that was a different setting: students believe having more > time to grasp the material with respect to a short workshop, they may > be less prone to give up during class, but they could do it anyways or > maybe give up later when you are not there to answer questions. > > Anyways, "what is the best programming language?" is something that > they asked. I have my programming language of choice, but the > demotivation section in SWC guidelines helped in devising a better > answer than "I like that, but you choose whatever you want". > Instead, I told them that the best programming language is the one > they feel more comfortable with. That "if", "for" and functions are in > almost every programming language and that after getting it in python > they could move to something else. And that if someone in their future > place of work would tell them "You should use X because is better!", > they may give it a try, see if they like it and maybe toss it in the > trash bin if not. > > Maybe I was wrong or there may be a better phrased answer. In that > case, a feedback from you would be more than welcome. > > To be in topic: instead of thinking about it as "I must not do that", > those guidelines could also be used as "how can I convey that > information in a better and less threatening way?". > > Best, > Giuseppe > > > > 2016-03-24 22:44 GMT+01:00 Greg Wilson <[email protected]>: > > One approach is to pre-empt it - I make a point of saying in my intro > that > > this stuff is genuinely hard, that I shouldn't imply otherwise by saying > > "just" (or equivalent), and inviting people to keep score. We can then > > compare everyone's scores at the first coffee break, and since they're > never > > the same, we can then have an interesting discussion about real-world > data > > :-) > > Cheers, > > Greg > > > > > > On 2016-03-24 5:41 PM, Adam Obeng wrote: > >> > >> Does any one have a tip for how to recover from accidentally doing these > >> things? I've tried to explain why I'm apologising for saying "just", but > >> that *just* seems to make it worse. > >> > >> Cheers, > >> > >> Adam > >> > >> On Thu, Mar 24, 2016, at 05:30 PM, Steven Haddock wrote: > >>> > >>> Yes, I think that is the one. The J-word!! > >>> Thanks Lex. > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>>> On Mar 24, 2016, at 14:22 , Lex Nederbragt <[email protected] > > > >>>> wrote: > >>>> > >>>> Perhaps this helps? Look for "Things You Shouldn't Do in a Workshop" > on > >>>> http://swcarpentry.github.io/instructor-training/09-motivation.html > >>>> > >>>> Lex > >>>> > >>>>> On 24 Mar 2016, at 22:02, Steven Haddock <[email protected]> wrote: > >>>>> > >>>>> TL;dr Can someone point me to the post about teaching guidelines? > >>>>> > >>>>> A little while ago Greg or somebody posted a set of examples of > things > >>>>> to avoid saying (“You can simply…”, etc). > >>>>> > >>>>> A friend of mine (really!) is teaching a class and she realized she > >>>>> should avoid saying “You have probably all done X”… so I was going > to send > >>>>> her that post, but I can’t find it. > >>>>> > >>>>> Thanks, > >>>>> Steve > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> _______________________________________________ > >>>>> Discuss mailing list > >>>>> [email protected] > >>>>> > >>>>> > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org > >>> > >>> > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> Discuss mailing list > >>> [email protected] > >>> > >>> > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Discuss mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> > >> > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org > > > > > > -- > > Dr Greg Wilson > > Director of Instructor Training > > Software Carpentry Foundation > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Discuss mailing list > > [email protected] > > > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org >
_______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org
