[Haskell-cafe] Python?

[karczma at info.unicaen.fr]

Daniel Carrera writes: 

> I have a lady friend who wants to learn how to program. I just decided to 
> teach her Python for practical reasons: 
> 
> 1) Python has a nice IDE-ish thing. It's called "idle". It includes both a 
> shell and an editor. The interface is simple and clear.

There are others. PyCrust under wxPython etc. Even more under Windows. 

> 4) She's interested in writing an OOo plugin some day. Python can do that.

Plugin FOR WHAT? 

> So I'm thinking that perhaps I can use Python, but try to teach her 
> functional principles, like not changing the value of a variable and not 
> letting her functions have side-effects. 
> 
> Given my circunstances, do you think that's a reasonable approach for 
> teaching her how to program?

To teach how to program in a structured way? Yes.
To teach how to program functionally? Hm. In a primitive sense, why not,
but seriously - no. There are plenty of methods which update in place
some objects, say x.append(y), etc. This influences the style, although
at the very beginner level you can impose a bit of functionalism. 

BTW. if your potential pupil is interested in some OO, and you feel some
sympathy towards FP, why not try Ocaml? 

Jerzy Karczmarczuk