Python past, present, and future with Guido van Rossum [audio]

Re:Python past, present, and future with Guido van Rossum [a... by willtim on Thursday February 23, 2017 @08:03AM (#13713490)

The syntax is trying to look friendly and familiar, but ultimately it's an abuse of a standard mathematical notation that has meant something else for hundreds of years. The original meaning, an equality relation, is still being taught to high-school children today, typically before python is forced upon them.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Python past, present, and future with Guido van Rossum [a... by hota_mazi on Thursday February 23, 2017 @09:41AM (#13714176)

You're over dramatizing.

The human brain is very good at interpreting things in context and it's really trivial for even middle school kids to understand that `=` in math is different from `=` in programming.

Do you want an example of something that beginner programmers struggle with? Pointers.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Python past, present, and future with Guido van Rossum [a... by augustk on Thursday February 23, 2017 @12:35PM (#13715784)

But you still need a symbol for the equality operator, so not choosing "=" for that seems rather absurd. It's comparable to making the choice to use + for string concatenation and ++ for (numeric) addition.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Python past, present, and future with Guido van Rossum [a... by zephyrfalcon on Thursday February 23, 2017 @10:18AM (#13714532)

Good god. If anything is "forced" upon high-school kids, it's algebra. (Maybe ask the average high schooler and see what they have to say about it.) I haven't heard of any schools that make Python mandatory though; where are these located?

[ Parent | on HN ]