On Fri, Jan 02, 2009 at 09:05:51PM +0100, Bruno Desthuilliers wrote: >> Python seems rather weird, and I think from the frequency >> with which these discussions occur on this list, clearly it *IS* >> difficult for a neophyte Python programmer to understand the >> assignment model. > > Took me about half an hour to grasp, not even being "CS grad" (nor > whathever "grad" FWIW). By that time, I had a couple monthes working > experience with VB, and had learned (but never seriously used) bits of > C, C++, Java and Pascal.
It took me about a half a second to grasp the "named bins" concept -- i.e. as soon as I was finished reading the words that explained it I understood it, so I'd say that based on your half-hour number, Python's model is substantially more complicated. My own experience was kind of similar... When I read about Python's model I didn't understand it the first time around, had to re-read the section I read that described it, and then had to play with it to see for myself how it worked. I'd estimate it took 10 minutes. I'm not a CS grad either (my degree is in information technology) but I did take the first two years of CS classes at my local college (as a bridge to a masters degree in CS, which I never completed), and I've been programming as a hobbyist, in school, and in my profession for 25 years. I would argue that ideally, it should not take an experienced programmer 10 minutes to understand variable assignment. :) [Note that I'm including the semantics for passing arguments to functions as part of "assignment" for purposes of this discussion.] -- Derek D. Martin http://www.pizzashack.org/ GPG Key ID: 0x81CFE75D
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