Beginning Python - From Novice to Professional

CHAPTER 19
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Playful Programming
By now you should have a clearer picture of how Python works than when you started. Now
the rubber hits the road, so to speak, and in the next ten chapters you put your newfound skills
to work. Each chapter contains a single do-it-yourself project with lots of room for experimentation,
while at the same time giving you the necessary tools to implement a solution.
In this chapter, I give you some general guidelines for programming in Python, as well as a
short description of how the projects are laid out.
Why Playful?
I think one of the strengths of Python is that it makes programming fun—for me, anyway. It’s
much easier to be productive when you’re having fun; and one of the fun things about Python
is that it allows you to be very productive. It’s a positive feedback loop, and you get far too few
of those in life.
The expression Playful Programming is one I invented as a less extreme version of Extreme
Programming, or XP.
■Note Extreme Programming is an approach to software development created by Kent Beck. For more
information, see http://www.extremeprogramming.org.
I like many of the ideas of the XP movement but have been too lazy to commit completely
to their principles. Instead, I’ve picked up a few things, and combined them with what I feel is
a natural way of developing programs in Python.
The Ju-Jitsu of Programming
You have perhaps heard of ju-jitsu? It’s a Japanese martial art, which, like its descendants judo
and aikido, focuses on flexibility of response, or “bending instead of breaking.” Instead of trying to
impose your preplanned moves on an opponent, you go with the flow, using your opponent’s
movements against him or her. This way (in theory) you can beat an opponent who is bigger,
meaner, and stronger than you.
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