Re: Python as a first programming language

Stefane Fermigier (fermigie@dmi.ens.fr)
3 Mar 1995 09:46:50 GMT

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In article <3j4ut9$r06@news.sprintlink.net>,
Christopher Petrilli <petrilli@news.sprintlink.net> wrote:
>James Malcolm 4310 (comqjam@herts.ac.uk) wrote:
>
>: Has anyone experience of teaching Python?
>: Especially as a first programming language?
>
I don't, but I can add a comment : the fact that in python, the indentation
is part of the syntax is, in my opinion, a very strong point in favor of
python as a first langage.

When I was teaching Pascal to beginners, I had to spend a big part of every
class telling the students to indent their programs correctly (or at least,
_consistently_). This is because in pascal, indentation is not part of the
langage, and it is hard for beginners to understand that a good program
has to be easily readable by whoever has to read it (the author, the teacher
or whatever collegue). In python, indentation is mandatory, so the message
would certainly get faster into their brainless heads.

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