hi elaine, welcome to Tutor. this list is really for those learning Python and/or programming, so i'm going to assume that your question is directed to mainly tutors, but perhaps tutees in reference to their experience in learning Python and how it was/is taught to them.
if you want to address teachers and other educational individuals, you should probably post to the EDU-SIG mailing list -- i'd recommend cross-posting there if you wish: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig there have been so many good responses so far that i can just say that you will see "as others have said" quite often in my reply here. > I am going to be teaching "Introduction to Python > Programming" in the Fall at Foothill College in Los > Altos Hills, CA. that's great! i am also a Python teacher professionally and happen to live just 5 minutes away from the campus. if you ever need a substitute and don't wish to cancel class for any some reason, drop me a line. > I have been teaching programming for 20 years now, > including Java and C++ as of late. i have been teaching since 1983... BASIC, C, and Python are the programming languages i have taught over the years. > 1) Programming Style > while 1: > x = next() > if not x: break > > I have never allowed students to use break or continue > in any programming class I have taught. I think of this > type of code as belonging with the dreaded GOTO. > > I have always thought of break and continue as hacks that > are not compatible with structured programming techniques. > The only exception is using break in a switch in C, C++ and > Java. > > However, all Python books seem to contain sample > programs like this one. Do you think that code like > this is desirable? as others have mentioned already, because assignments are not expressions in Python, it is quite a common idiom and should be covered and implemented in this manner to keep the code cleaner and more consistent. remember that "readability counts." its are in all the books because it is one of those basic idioms that ppl *have* to use to get things done. also as others have said, GOTO does not have the stigma that it once had and that there is nothing wrong in principle with break and continue when used with loops, which is what they were designed to do. you pretty much have to be a very experienced programmer in order to know when and where are the right places for that beast. with that said, it would be a good idea to review the Zen to truly understand the philosophy of Python. it is one thing teaching and learning Python, but it is another step when you are able to understand it and program in a "Pythonic" way. (if away from the internet or a book, you can access then Zen using 'import this' or 'python -m this' from the shell.) > 2) Since this is an introductory class, I am tempted > to leave out "optional" topics like argument matching > modes, walk, map, filter, reduce, apply. Do you think > these are required for any Python programmer? list comprehensions (and generator expressions) have obsoleted map() and filter() because in general, their performance is better, but that is not always the case. apply() was deprecated by the new function invocation mechanism using * and ** back in Python 1.6. reduce() will stick around. i'm not sure what "walk" is, and argument matching is important. in fact, you need to cover standard/formal/required argus, default args, keyword args, and variable args (* tuples and ** dictionaries). > 3) I need to teach a GUI in this class. I would like > something that is easy, standard, and multi-platform. > I am considering Tkinter and Jython. Any opnions on > this? Tkinter was chosen as the default for Python way back in the early days because that was easy to understand and teach and was available on the big 3 platforms (Unix, Win, Mac). i teach this in my courses (and also in "Core Python," the textbook i wrote for college-level courses as well as for working professionals), but also try to cover more advanced and related widget sets like Pmw and Tix. if you want to teach the most basic concepts, even leaving off event-driven programming, take a look at EasyGUI. since then, however, it is no longer the only GUI toolkit. wxWindows (and its adapter wxPython) has grown in userbase quite a lot in the last few years -- it is also cross-plat- form. one of its greatst features is that it uses a system's native widget set. in other words, GUIs written on Win32 look like Windoze apps, and the same for Mac and *ix. there are some nice "intro" libraries like PythonCard. for building GUIs in wxPython, one of the most painless ways is using Boa Constructor. you can drag-n-drop widgets onto a canvas. Boa writes the boilerplate code, and you only have to worry about supplying the callbacks. fwiw, i teach both an "Introduction to Programming using Python" course as well as an (intensive) "Introduction to Python" programming course. the first is meant for those with no programming experience whatsoever while the second matches your prerequisite of knowledge of at least one other high-level language is required. if you're curious as to the topics i cover in either course, here are their course descriptions, repsectively: http://roadkill.com/~wesc/cyberweb/ippdsc.html http://roadkill.com/~wesc/cyberweb/pp1dsc.html it is also not by coincidence that the syllabus follows the text and exercises found in "Core Python" very closely. :-) good luck! -- wesley - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Core Python Programming", Prentice Hall, (c)2007,2001 http://corepython.com wesley.j.chun :: wescpy-at-gmail.com python training and technical consulting cyberweb.consulting : silicon valley, ca http://cyberwebconsulting.com _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
