Hi, 10 details I forgot in my first response...
* John Posner:
[...] Chapter 2, which current runs 98 pages!
The chapter 2 PDF I posted on
<url: http://tinyurl.com/programmingbookP3>
was and is (it's not been updated) 101 pages, with an "-EOT-" at page 102.
I suspect you may have read the previous version.
However, I believe the only difference from the previous version is the added
text, the last three pages, about dictionaries (associative arrays). Did your
PDF have Lewis Carrol's Jabberwocky nonsense poem somewhere in the last three
pages? I used that poem as an example text for word counting?
[snip]
As I've said in this forum (and the edu-sig forum) before, I think the
best metaphor for understanding Python variable assignment is John
Zelle's yellow-sticky-note metaphor. [2]
[snip]
[2] "Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science" by John
Zelle (Franklin, Biddle & Associates, 2004) See Section 2.5.1, "Simple
Assignment"
I'm unable to find anything about yellow sticky-notes there! However, I can
guess what it was about :-), and I only looked in a PDF I downloaded, which
probably was illegal and manually typed in by some kid. He he, they do a great
service for us who don't have ready continuous access to a university library!
Cheers,
- Alf
PS: Argh! Someone did it -- serious programming intro based on Python --
already! However, there's a difference between computer science and programming,
as very clearly explained by Bjarne Stroustrup in his latest book; Zelle uses
Python 2.x in Linux, while I use 3.x in Windows, more accessible to the average
reader; Zelle's book seems to be at least partially assuming a school
environment while what I'm writing is /meant/ to be sufficient for unassisted
self study; and of course I think my progression is better, e.g. introducing
loops and decisions very early. However, all those exercises... I wish
Someone(TM) could cook up Really Interesting exercises for my manuscript! :-P
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