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I'm currently teaching python to some students on a conversion course who needed a bit of extra help. The most demoralizing thing for them is to keep hearing ho

I'm currently teaching python to some students on a conversion course who needed a bit of extra help. The most demoralizing thing for them is to keep hearing how easy python is supposed to be. I had to flip that around from day 1. Python is not "easy". It's just "easier" than, say, C, assuming you already know C and the fundamentals of memory and stuff. If you don't, Python might even be HARDER to learn, because it automates a lot of that intuition about objects and memory away from you. So you're not struggling because it's easy. You're struggling because it's hard! Like all programming. But also rewarding. Start from the basics, try to get a deep understanding as you go, stick at it, and you'll experience the rewards sooner than you think.

JetAlone 6y ago
Yeah, I'm teaching python too and it's important not to lie and pretend it's easy. I do try to emphasize to my student that it's a difficult skill akin to learning how to read and help them see each small step and how they build. I encourage my students by telling them that if they really want to do it, it is possible to learn these skills, and explain how it can be rewarding. I think it's important to let them assess based on reward vs how difficult they find it, so they have an honest view of whether to keep going or pivot to something that might give more bang for their buck.
analog31 6y ago
Granted, BASIC (yes the kind in all caps with line numbers) was my first language. So I'm biased, and mentally mutilated. Still, BASIC had something like a dozen important keywords, and you could at least offer a hand-wavy explanation of what the computer was doing with each statement. If you found a program in a magazine, it didn't do much more than what you learned in class, because there wasn't much more. And even specialized commands like POKE were not too hard to explain. It was possible to walk through a short program and "think like the machine" to understand what it did. Frankly, even the GOTO was helpful in that aspect. There was no mystery about what GOTO did. Today, Python is my main language and I'm quite productive with it. But I can't tell you with a straight face what a statement like x=3 actually does. In fact, to help people with Python, I'm more likely to revert to an explanation that is like what BASIC does with LET X=3. So I have to fictionalize or abstract away the computer to a greater extent.

JetAlone 6y ago

Yeah, I'm teaching python too and it's important not to lie and pretend it's easy. I do try to emphasize to my student that it's a difficult skill akin to learning how to read and help them see each small step and how they build. I encourage my students by telling them that if they really want to do it, it is possible to learn these skills, and explain how it can be rewarding. I think it's important to let them assess based on reward vs how difficult they find it, so they have an honest view of whether to keep going or pivot to something that might give more bang for their buck.

analog31 6y ago

Granted, BASIC (yes the kind in all caps with line numbers) was my first language. So I'm biased, and mentally mutilated. Still, BASIC had something like a dozen important keywords, and you could at least offer a hand-wavy explanation of what the computer was doing with each statement. If you found a program in a magazine, it didn't do much more than what you learned in class, because there wasn't much more. And even specialized commands like POKE were not too hard to explain. It was possible to walk through a short program and "think like the machine" to understand what it did. Frankly, even the GOTO was helpful in that aspect. There was no mystery about what GOTO did. Today, Python is my main language and I'm quite productive with it. But I can't tell you with a straight face what a statement like x=3 actually does. In fact, to help people with Python, I'm more likely to revert to an explanation that is like what BASIC does with LET X=3. So I have to fictionalize or abstract away the computer to a greater extent.