Python is the new BASIC

Post by IanCal » Fri, Jul 31, 2015, 2:43 PM UTC

agentultra wrote: post #42

ZitchDog wrote: post #14

Nope, sorry. Python is an easy, good language. Basic was not popular because it was easy, or even good, it was popular because it was everywhere. JavaScript, for all its warts and foibles, is the new basic. It's easy enough, and it's everywhere.

Python, fwiw, is a better BASIC. It includes a built-in Turtle graphics system and a decent IDE. You can teach loops and draw graphics in just a few lines of code: import turtle turtle.setup() turtle.forward(100) turtle.turn(90) turtle.forward(100) And so on. That initial experience has been one of the easiest to teach kids outside of a visual environment like Scratch. Some friends of mine have tried teaching Javascr…

Post by edanm » Fri, Jul 31, 2015, 2:45 PM UTC

scriptproof wrote: post #36

megaman22 wrote: post #23

Very true. It probably can't happen for various reasons, but I would love if windows just folded python 3.2 in as part of the default install. Python certainly feels, to me, like the most similar language to the old QBasic. Simple syntax, with advanced features that you can use, or not use, pretty robust standard library, not great, but usable IDE built-in (I assume IDLE still comes in the install?) One of the really…

Maybe Python has all these qualities, but it is - different -. If you learn programming with Python, you have to relearn it again to use any other common language, Java, C#, JavaScript etc...

Post by marcosdumay » Fri, Jul 31, 2015, 2:48 PM UTC

scriptproof wrote: post #31

hliyan wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Callback hell in JavaScript is reminiscent of the GOTO-hell we used to suffer as BASIC programs grew larger. Like you said, with all its problems it was still ubiquitous and practical. So is JavaScript.

console.log("Hello") is not more complicated than print("Hello"). For the callbacks it is actually possible to not use them. See how to: http://www.xul.fr/javascript/no-callback.php (and it is even very simple). That is just a matter of style.

Post by 32bitkid » Fri, Jul 31, 2015, 2:49 PM UTC

Post by Too » Fri, Jul 31, 2015, 2:53 PM UTC

awkward wrote: post #22

python's problem is that while it goes the distance to make the simplest possible program as simple as possible, simplicity bleeds off very quickly as you add functionality. The shortest well behaved program, for example, looks like this: if __name__ == "__main__": print "Hello World!" and the shortest program that is strictly equivalent to the java program is closer to this: class Hello(object): @classmethod def mai…

    import sys
    def main(args):    
        function_local_variable = "yay"
        print("hello world")

    if __name__ == "__main__"
        pollute_global_namespace = "yes"
        main(sys.argv)