on teaching Python

Oorspronkelijk geschreven op 11/08/2014 - 11:22

[following a debate on whether to start teaching e.g. list comprehensions instead of their imperative equivalents because the breakdown into imperative statements wouldn't necessarily be the way newcomers to the language or to programming in general understand things]

Don't act as if there's only one type of "newbie" (I hate that word, it always sounds demeaning to me).

The first thing you should do in teaching is ascertain the way you have to deal with your pupil i.e. where they come from, what they already know and how you best make them understand what you want them to understand.

If all you're interested in is handing out knowledge then you might as well be a book.