On Sun, 04 Jan 2009 22:55:09 -0600, Derek Martin wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 04, 2009 at 09:30:20PM -0500, Steve Holden wrote:
>> > I'm going to go out on a limb and assert that there's NO POSSIBLE WAY
>> > a student could intuit Python's variable assignment behavior, having
>> > never been exposed to that same behavior prior. It needs to be
>> > taught.
>> >
>> As does assignment of any kind.
>
> I'm not sure that's true. Having taken algebra prior to learning Basic,
> I intuitively understood what this program would do when I executed it,
> the first time I saw the code, and before I read the explanation:
>
> 10 let x = 10
> 20 print x
Do you really thought of `x` as a named memory location where the bit
pattern for the floating point value 10 is stored, with just the algebra
knowledge!? Isn't "Ah there the name `x` is bound to the value 10." more
likely? As it is the technically easier and IMHO more intuitive
explanation when you go from math to programming.
> [Well, to be honest it's been a very long time since I've programmed in
> Pet BASIC, and the syntax may be wrong. The point is, just as I did
> then, I am positive that you intuitively understand what the above is
> intended to do, even if it is not valid BASIC syntax -- because if you
> did not, we would not be having this discussion.]
Syntax is correct. :-) The ``let`` is optional in Commodore BASIC.
But where is the difference to
x = 10
print x
? Wouldn't you have guessed what this Python program will do just the
same?
Ciao,
Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch
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