On 4/4/14 5:36 PM, Chris Angelico wrote:
If someone is asking for a hint, it's because s/he is trying to learn. I'm always willing to help someone learn, regardless of whether they're going through a course or currently employed or whatever. Sometimes a small hint can be obtained from the interpreter itself; but often, it takes a measure of experience to grok (one of the differences between the expert and the inexperienced is how quickly a traceback can be read - an expert can often go straight to the line with the problem); a hint from another Python programmer can be immensely helpful, as it can include advice as well as a hard "this works, that doesn't".
I accept that. It really depends case-by-case at what point the person asks for help ( tension is really a good teacher sometimes ) and at what level the help is provided ( give the hint, but maintain the tension ).
I particularly agree with your statement above in every venue except the educational venue where the break-over moment (the teachable moment) is NOT the moment being queried ! If the student is NOT able to discover on their own that one 'moment' the teachable moment may be lost forever, and the student(s) never have the opportunity to visit that moment again. Now, was this one of those for Dave, who knows. Beats me.
I do appreciate your disagreement, and I think you have a good point. marcus -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
