ten small Python programs - comp.lang.python

Message from discussion ten small Python programs

Steve Howell

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More options May 27 2007, 12:58 pm

Newsgroups: comp.lang.python

From: Steve Howell <showel...@yahoo.com>

Date: Sat, 26 May 2007 19:58:10 -0700 (PDT)

Local: Sun, May 27 2007 12:58 pm

Subject: Re: ten small Python programs

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--- Paul McGuire <pt...@austin.rr.com> wrote:

> On May 26, 8:48 pm, Steve Howell
> <showel...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> > I'm thinking you could actually have a progression
> > from a 1 line program up to a 50-line program.
> The
> > number 50 is kind of arbitrary, but my gut says
> that
> > by a 50-line program, you will have demonstrated
> > almost every useful concept.

> If there is anything arbitrary here, I'd say it is
> your "increment
> each example by one source line" constraint. This
> can force you to
> use some bad coding practices to meet your target
> line count for a
> given example.

I understand your point, but I'm sticking to the
concept for now. My intent with the progression isn't
so much for each example to thoroughly teach a concept
(although I could certainly hyperlink to a more
in-depth treatment), but really more to give a bird's
eye view of the language very quickly.

I recently helped teach a Java programmer to program
in Python, and he learned a lot just by seeing simple
examples. So I guess my target audience isn't so much
people learning how to program; it's more for
programmers getting their first exposure to Python.

On the other side of the fence, I recently tried to
relearn a bit of Ruby, and I remember being frustrated
by their tutorials, as really, I just wanted to see a
bunch of simple programs, and I can figure out mostly
what they're doing. Instead, I had to wade through
verbose descriptions of what a variable is, rules for
how you construct identifiers, etc.

> Maybe try this approach: pick your top 10/20/50
> language features and
> develop concise examples. Then order the examples by
> length as a first
> cut (longer examples probably *are* more complex),
> and then reorder a
> bit to handle pre-requisites (introduce a minimum of
> new features,
> preferably 1, per example). Overall, I'd have a
> tough time picking
> just 10 language features to illustrate, but there
> are probably 10-20
> basic features that will get new people onto fairly
> productive
> ground. Pick 20 as your example count (50 sounds a
> bit long), and
> stick to it, and then later add "20 More Little
> Programs" for the next
> wave of examples in increasing complexity.

My only reluctance with that approach is that it
sounds like a little more work than I'm ready to take
on right away. But it's on the Wiki now, so maybe
other folks can help me grow it.

> One other nit to pick: have your example classes
> inherit from object,
> to get new people using new-style classes from the
> get-go.

My only fear here is that when old classes go away
(Py3K? I don't know), that practice may become
obsolete.

But on a more general note, I welcome folks to just
clean up my examples on the Wiki if I accidentally
introduce some bad practices...but preserving line
counts. :)

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