On Sat, Oct 9, 2010 at 4:12 AM, Alan Gauld <alan.ga...@btinternet.com> wrote: > "David Hutto" <smokefl...@gmail.com> wrote > >> > I'm sorry to tell you that you've just reinvented the wheel. This > was >> > already solved, a long, long time ago. It is called the glob > module: >> >> Hey, buddy pal. Isn't it true that newbs should take of advantage of >> the fact that you have to solve the problem pythonically > > Thats a matter of great dispute. There is an old school that says you > should learn to program in assembler (or even microcode) then move > to C and then to Python(or similar) and finally to 4G languages.
Even old schooler though would be that we're just directing electrical flow from an ac outlet through a dc converter and streaming it through the circuit board though. Which is not as easy as it sounds! > Then there is a new school that says life is too short, learn to > program like a professional - use the highest level language you > can and leverage the libraries. > > Personally I would say for the hobbyist, new-school is best. The real > skill to learn is finding the best library and figuring out how to use it. But I think higher level should be for productivity, but low level for higher knowledge of the productivity. > [For a pro doing a 4 year computing course then there is still a lot > to be said in starting from scratch and building up - they may > have to do it that way someday on new hardware or creating a new OS, > but an amateur is never likely to be building from scratch...] > Unless you're a technological masochist. >> > You should use that. It works, it is tested and thoroughly > debugged, >> > and >> > it is powerful. >> >> Certainly so, but not as powerful as the individual's ingenuity in >> solving the problem at hand without foreknowledge of the 'known' >> solution. > > That depends on how good the student is. It is very unlikely > that the student will come up with anything close to globs > power and flexibility on their first attempt. So if they want a learning > exercise it might be an interesting task, but if they want to actually > achieve a result they should use glob. > > Software reuse is a big issue in the industry just now and a lot > of effort is being spent in getting software engineers out of the > "not invented here" mentality and into the reuse mentality. So > encouraging beginners to get into the habit of "scavenge and > adapt" is actually in line with current industry thinking. Then I'm apparently an industry thinker. > > Just as an alternative view... :-) > > -- > Alan Gauld > Author of the Learn to Program web site > http://www.alan-g.me.uk/ > > > _______________________________________________ > Tutor maillist - tu...@python.org > To unsubscribe or change subscription options: > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor > _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
