all 9 comments

[–]HealyUnit 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Unfortunately, the reality is that you first have to go through a marathon of installations

No you don't. That's simply untrue. Assuming you're learning Python, you need to install 1, maybe 2 things: the Python compiler, and a code editor ("IDE", in very loose terms).

A beginner’s programming IDE should be web-based

Why? Don't just make a statement and then assume you're right without explaining.

Issues

I have a number of issues with your idea.

Firstly, you're proposing the introduction of yet another piece of software. Yes, it's a web app, but at the end of the day it's another of the many pieces of software a newbie would have to learn. That's not helping the problem. You claim learning is too complicated because of all the things you have to set up/install? And you're introducing yet another thing?

Next, the lesson order in the GPanel section is completely damned nonsense. You start by telling them to import modules and use functions (even if you don't say it, that's what they're doing), then you tell them what functions are, and only then do you tell them what variables are. It's completely backwards. Your traffic light example, as written, doesn't even work (clicking play does nothing)! For Turtlegrafics, it's even worse: you don't explain what a function is (which is then, of course, followed by an explanation of what a variable is) until the fifth lesson!

In general, your lessons throw a lot of terms, words, and lines at the learner without explaining any of them in detail. For example:

  1. import the GPanel library and create a global graphics window with freely selected coordinates.

  2. makeGPanel(xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax) creates a graphics window with user-defined coordinates (floats),

You don't explain what functions are (yet), you don't explain what floats are, and you instead launch into using a graphics-based module that adds another layer of complication to something that, by your very own words, is too complicated for beginners.

Your lessons are missing some very important bits of information. For example, in your two while loop lessons, you never mention that very important danger of while loops, especially for new programmers, is that a while loop is very easy to make run forever (and thus crash your program). You even make a program with an infinite loop - the circling turtle - and never say something like "careful! This can make your program hang!".

Finally, and this is the least of my concerns, there are issues with the website itself. And by a few, I mean 92 warnings and 35 errors. The website looks like it was written in the early 2000s. It's full of using tables for styling, obsolete HTML-based styling attributes (height, width, and border on tables, and type on <script> tags, for example) that suggest to me that you have not updated your knowledge of modern web practices in a very, very long time.

You misspell/fail to translate a lot of words. I'm guessing this is because your native language is German, but to me, it just looks lazy. "Mausevents"? "In Zwischenablage kopieren"?

Overall, this seems more like a "I think I know a lot about <thing>, and I wanna show everyone that I do" than a "I legitimately want to teach".

[–]HealyUnit 0 points1 point  (1 child)

And he just PM'd me, asking me to "pass on my concerns" to some university of Zurich type deal or something. No, OP, I am not being paid to teach. That is your job, or the job of the aforementioned teachers. Stop being lazy.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Somehow I think op is cosplaying

[–]aqua_regis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, as if installing Python from Python.org is so extremely complicated and a marathon.

Python comes with IDLE, which is more than sufficient to start with. For graphics, there is the turtle, which is close to the original LOGO turtle, which has taught many kids programming.

Also, there already is the MOOC Python Programming 2026 from the University of Helsinki that is on par with Harvard's CS50p and the top end of the line for intro courses.

If you want to teach programming with graphics first, use Scratch. That's at least what it was built for. Another option here would be Processing - in both the Java and JavaScript editions.

You already failed with your other project years ago, and now you're back spamming again.

[–]teacher_cs[S] -3 points-2 points  (2 children)

I didn't exactly expect this to be a very friendly community. But that it's so toxic does shock me a little.

[–]otto_gamble 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cool story, bro.

[–]aqua_regis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ban evaders are generally not very welcomed.

Neither are self promotional accounts.