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re AMTE thread re DrScheme & Python

Kirby Urner urner at alumni.princeton.edu
Wed Feb 2 20:19:51 EST 2000 
Probably someone else will post this as well, but since I
started this thread, I might as well complete the job by
ending it (sort of).  Here's a concluding post.  Looks 
like a truce has been called.

Kirby


=======================================


From: D012560c at aol.com
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2000 19:44:45 EST
Subject: Computers in Math Class (was Math Myopia...)
To: amte at esunix.emporia.edu
CC: pdx4d at teleport.com
X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Windows sub 45

Marvin, please post the following to the newsgroup/page where you sent my
original post. Thanks -- Matthias

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Readers: 

A couple of days ago Marvin Hernandez asked for my opinion concerning the
Python Web page on Programming for Everybody. The Web page then contained a
table that compared aspects of programming languages, in particular, the
teachability of Scheme and its programming environments. As the leader of
the TeachScheme project and a researcher, I was deeply disturbed by the
contents of this table considering that the text contained no other
support.

In the meantime, Guido van Rossum and I exchanged private email and came to
a mutually agreeable position. He has removed his table and has prefixed
his page with 

     "Note:I have made one change to the text of the proposal: At the
      request of some supporters of other languages, I've withdrawn a
      language comparison chart that contained highly personal and
      sometimes unfounded opinions of other languages. The table was being
      used out of context in a way that some found objectionable. (Not all
      of the table is disputed, but it seems wiser not to engage in direct
      language comparisons without a lot more documentation.)"

I, in turn, sincerely apologize for writing an emotional evaluation about
Python and its users. I should not have given permission to post my first
reaction to a newsgroup about which I knew nothing. I particularly regret
using the word "cult" for Python users.

 -- Matthias Felleisen
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