Florian Bruhin writes: > I think a big issue here is the lack of good newcomer tutorials for > Python 3.
My business students (who are hardly advanced programmers) don't take tutorials seriously. They're way too focused on getting results. And there it's the "Doing <SOME PRACTICAL THING> with Python" books that are the killer. They just cargo cult those books, which are almost all still Python-2-focused in my experience. I don't think there's much we can do about those books except hope they're popular enough to justify new editions in short order, but I did want to point out that tutorials are not the only way beginners are introduced to Python, and a lot of those entry ports remain Python-2-oriented. What I would really like to see is a Python 3 (and if you really need Python 2, here's how it differs) version of Python: Essential Reference. BTW, for my students the main thing that trips them is not Unicode, but rather things like the print function (vs. statement in Python 2). > But I also think nobody fresh to Python should start learning > Python 2 now, except when there's a compelling reason (such as > unported libraries without alternatives). I agree, but the cargo cult thing is big for people coming to Python because somebody told them it's a good way to do something practical. (Fortunately my students have to deal with the insane proliferation of encodings in Japan, so "less mojibake" is a compelling reason for Python 3. I get no backtalk.<wink/>) _______________________________________________ Python-Dev mailing list Python-Dev@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev Unsubscribe: https://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com
