Humor: The Evolution of a Programmer

[Bill Sconce]

bscott at ntisys.com writes:

> On Wed, 13 Nov 2002, at 5:08pm, sconce at in-spec-inc.com wrote:
>> It is OFTEN easier in Python to try it than to guess.
>> (Also, easier to try it than to RTFM...  :) 
> 
>   While I agree with you, it is with some trepidation.
>   Learning a system without learning the hows and whys
>   behind it can lead to [...]

And I agree with YOU.  I was not recommending using this
method to learn ab initio.  And the RTFM remark == irony.
(Responding seriously to intended irony has been the start of
many a flamewar - don't do THAT to me, Ben!  :) 

OK, OK, my attempts at humor suck... 

Seriously:  when you HAVE learned a feature, and you're in the
middle of development, and you need to recall what the frabble()
function returns, it really can be faster in Python to try it
than to look it up.  It's certainly better than guessing.

Also, trying it interactively (perhaps for the nth time) is a
better technique for making it finally stick in your recollection.
(There's a good deal of pedagogical literature to this effect.
It's how we teach flying.  Python != flying, but learning by
doing is almost always stronger than learning by reading alone.) 

Python is a Way. 

resisting-the-curly-brace-vs-indentation-argument'ly yours,
Bill