Why Python is a great language for teaching introductory programming classes .docVIP

　　by Philip Guo （philip@pgbovine．net） 　　This article presents reasons for why I feel that Python is a great first language to teach students about computer programming （see this related article for more of my views on introductory programming courses）． In a nutshell， all of my assertions reinforce my belief that most beginner programmers dont care at all about Computer Science or programming language theory， but rather simply want to get the computer to do what they say with as little overhead and boilerplate code as possible． The less code they need to write， the less errors and bugs they might encounter； the less errors and bugs they encounter， the less likely they are to become frustrated in those crucial early days and give up on programming altogether． 　　I think that Python is superior to many other languages for teaching introductory programming because it allows the student to focus less on details such as types， compilers， and writing boilerplate code and more on the algorithms and data structures relevant to performing their intended tasks （similar arguments could be made for languages such as Ruby）． Here are some specific Python features that make it great for teaching beginners to program： 　　No need to declare the types of variables 　　When a student first learns to program in a statically－typed language such as C＋＋ or Java， usually the first lines that he/she must write are variable declarations like int count or List 　　t do anything except to serve as visual clutter and obscure the statements that perform real actions． In the small programs that beginners often write， declarations can take up 1/3 to 1/4 of all lines of code！ Veteran programmers think that declaring variables and types are second nature， but they can be really annoying to beginners who have to constantly grapple with a compiler yelling at them for type errors． （You dont have to declare types in some statically－typed languages， such as ML and other languages with type inference， but teachi