On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 10:06 PM, Michael H. Goldwasser <[email protected]>wrote:
>
> To start a new thread, I'm always trying to keep a list of some common
> "gotchas" that beginning students run across when using Python, or
> things that teachers should keep in mind when teaching with the
> language.
Sincere applause -- exactly the kind of thread edu-sig should include
in the weave.
This mystr.isupper( ) == True:
stuff is quite common. One also gets veterans of other languages
wanting to use while instead for for loops:
cnt = 0
while cnt < len(mylist):
theword = mylist[cnt]
of theword.isupper( ) == True:
is_upper.append(theword)
cnt += 1
instead of
is_upper = [ theword for theword in mylist if theword.isupper() ]
I was at one of David Goodger's talks which was all about
getting more idiomatic.
Knowing the default behavior of dicts means you know you
can say
for key in thedict:
instead of
for key in thedict.keys():
Sometimes I'll think a student is using an idiom that looks odd
and so isn't "Pythonic" (as if I were the only judge). Like:
mydict.update({key:value})
instead of
mydict[key] = value
but then I'll do a search and see enough authors using the idiom
to update my own ideas of what's idiomatic.
Teachers have a privileged position, getting to see the
same solutions over and over but in slightly (or greatly)
different styles.
edu-sig makes a useful repository for those wishing to
share from this perspective.
Kirby
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