Bob Noonan wrote: > I would love to switch our CS1 course to Python. It seems like I am always > about 5-8 years ahead of my department. After starting in 1997, it took me > until 2003 to get our CS1 course switched from C++ to Java. > > At the time we did it, I knew Python was a better choice, precisely because: > > 1. It is a good scripting language. > > 2. 50% of our CS1 students never take another CS course; clearly, these > students are better off with Python than with Java. > > The one place where Python is clearly deficient IMHO is in GUI programming. > Tkinter (and the TK toolkit) are nowhere near the quality and simplicity of > Swing. Pack as a layout manager is difficult, at best. And yes, I am aware > of other GUI interfaces such as wxPython, but the infrastructure is not there > to support them. All of the Python textbooks that I am familiar with cover > only Tkinter. > Why not teach Python and, when it come to using GUI, switch to Jython? This can then be used as an introduction to Java...
André _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
