4 ms·

Reasons why Python is great to teach: * Simplicity - you can write Hello world and have a 'that's cool' moment earlier than java * General purpose - whether y

Reasons why Python is great to teach: * Simplicity - you can write Hello world and have a 'that's cool' moment earlier than java * General purpose - whether you're interested in web apps, data analysis, games, command line apps, you'll be able to do it with Python (the 'second best language for any problem' aspect) * Community - a lot of people know it, it's easy to get questions answered. There are libraries, tutorials, etc Reasons why Python is not great to teach: * Horrible set up even with (or because of?) modern tooling and many options. Many beginners will get frustrated and lose interest after several hours of messing with configuration * Too magic sometimes - easy to pick up bad habits by doing things that are 'allowed' in Python, but not in most languages Overall I still think Python is one of the best first languages to show someone, but I'm glad I learned Java shortly afterwards followed by brief introductions to dozens more languages.

falcolas 6y ago
> Horrible set up For the purposes of teaching, there’s very few reasons to go beyond the standard library (‘Requests’ is why I qualify this). Restricting yourself to that means that python is, most times, already set up for you. It only gets confusing when you start to use shared libraries.
- sixhobbits 6y ago
  This is not true on Windows and in general even for beginners I would not recommend the default install of Python on mac.
  - falcolas 6y ago
    WSL gives you Python 3 with an apt install, and homebrew can replace the default 2.7 with Python 3. Using Python on Windows without WSL is a bit harder, but it's really just a package install and explicit `python file.py` call in a command window. I don't believe that any of these are onerous enough to justify calling them "Horrible [to] set up".
cjf4 6y ago
I'd add multi-paradigm. It's really powerful that you compare teach/compare/mix OO, FP, and others without leaving the language.

falcolas 6y ago

> Horrible set up For the purposes of teaching, there’s very few reasons to go beyond the standard library (‘Requests’ is why I qualify this). Restricting yourself to that means that python is, most times, already set up for you. It only gets confusing when you start to use shared libraries.

sixhobbits 6y ago
This is not true on Windows and in general even for beginners I would not recommend the default install of Python on mac.
- falcolas 6y ago
  WSL gives you Python 3 with an apt install, and homebrew can replace the default 2.7 with Python 3. Using Python on Windows without WSL is a bit harder, but it's really just a package install and explicit `python file.py` call in a command window. I don't believe that any of these are onerous enough to justify calling them "Horrible [to] set up".

cjf4 6y ago

I'd add multi-paradigm. It's really powerful that you compare teach/compare/mix OO, FP, and others without leaving the language.