On 16/02/2021 21:22, Tarjei Bærland via Python-list wrote: > To me, it depends on what you want out of including programming in > mathematics education.
That's a really important subclass distinction. If programming is seen as an adjunct to math then the aims can be simplified considerably since you are only interested in pure computation. Things like networking, interfacing to peripherals and the like can be ignored. Likewise you probably don't care about creating large projects wit multiple files etc. With those constraints there are probably better languages than python. You mention Logo and I had fun with that back in the 80s and early 90s. But ultimately it wasn't suitable for the kind of real-world programming I needed. That's why I chose python for my tutorial. Its not only teachable at a basic level but it is actually usable on larger, real-world type projects once you've learned it. You never need to throw away your skills. > If the aim is to quickly get the students to "be creative" with > programming by themselves, my feeling is that Python is too unwieldy for > a beginner. Don't underestimate the interactive prompt. It gives instant feedback and is moire usable for beginners than most Lisp-style REPLs. Logo works too of course. But almost anything you can do in Logo you can do almost as easily in Python. Be it list handling or turtle graphics. > minutes. They get the feeling of designing their own computational > procedure much quicker than in Python. (Yes, of course, the introductory > excercises in Python are a bit more advanced than "add two numbers".) But they don't need to be. My tutor starts off with precisely that... > I am honestly not sure what quite what my feelings are regarding this, > perhaps Python is the best of all possible options. Its a good compromise. Its got faults (see my other post!) but I haven't found anything clearly better. -- Alan G Author of the Learn to Program web site http://www.alan-g.me.uk/ http://www.amazon.com/author/alan_gauld Follow my photo-blog on Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alangauldphotos -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list