Arthur wrote: > The issue is inherent in the circumstances. If programming is so powerful > - why can't the folks really good at it make it so it isn't so damn hard to > learn. Can't they whip something up that makes it easy. It they can't - how > powerful is the practice - really. And if it ain't powerful in this way, > why would I waste my time on it. >
Are you sure that's what they're saying and not just what you're hearing? ;-) > *My* answer is "please don't", but please do go away and please don't come > back. > > But I am a hard ass. > > And others seem to think there are better ways to respond. Depends on what the real question is, I think. What I hear a lot is: "what useful stuff can I do with this and how much do I have to learn in order to do that?" - which is a very different question but can sound very similar, often because it's phrased as: "Why do I want to learn this?" or "what's it good for?" Unfortunately the answer this question often gets is: "If you don't know already, go away." My response is to help them figure out what it's good for, for *them*. If they don't want to bother after that, then yep - they should go away. But if they're willing to at least *ask*, then they deserve a better answer, imho. Anna _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
