On Thu, Mar 24, 2016 at 11:27 PM, Giuseppe Profiti <[email protected]> wrote: > 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.
I like this script and intend to try to use something more like this in the future, where in the past I've been a little more evangelical about Python. But then another question that often arises is "Why specifically are you teaching us Python?" Some people come to workshops already knowing about Python and specifically wanting to learn it. Others have never heard of it, or have heard of it but don't know why they should care. For R workshops feel free to s/Python/R/ here as well. I think, when I teach Python, there are numerous good arguments for why I'm teaching it. The relative simplicity of the syntax is probably at the top of the list just insofar as using it as a teaching language. But then there's also the strong community of scientific software built up around Python, and its strength as a general purpose language compared to some others "You may be happy with MATLAB now, but just wait 'til you have to make a web request!" etc. On the other hand for many people that sort of need may never arise and is purely theoretical. I totally agree that the best answer is "Whatever works for you", but I also want to give a convincing argument for why I'm teaching you *this* language. > 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
