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Explanation of list reference

Steven D'Aprano steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info
Sat Feb 15 01:07:25 EST 2014 
On Fri, 14 Feb 2014 19:00:36 -0500, Ned Batchelder wrote:

> On 2/14/14 4:43 PM, Marko Rauhamaa wrote:
>> Chris Angelico<rosuav at gmail.com>:
>>
>>> >be careful of simplifications that will cause problems down the line.
>> Sure. Let it be said, though, that sometimes you learn through
>> inaccuracies, a technique used intentionally by Knuth's TeXBook, for
>> example. In fact, you get through highschool mathematics successfully
>> without knowing what numbers and variables actually are.
>>
>>
> Yes, sometimes for teaching reasons, you have to over-simplify or even
> introduce artificial constructs.  I'd recommend acknowledging them as
> such.

The mathematician Ian Stewart and biologist Jack Cohen call these "lies 
for children". They don't mean it as a pejorative. In fact, calling them 
"lies for children" is itself a lie for children :-)

(Lies for children are not lies, nor are they just for children.)


-- 
Steven
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