I'm at PyCon and just heard an interesting keynote from one of the guys with the One-Laptop-Per-Child project. Except for the kernel (Linux) and a few other bits, all of the software for the laptops is written in Python. Including the filesystem. The idea is that kids should be able to tinker with all of the software on the laptop.
The laptop even has a "View Source" button that will show the source code for whatever application is in use at the moment.
In around 10 years, there may be millions of Python programmers in third-world countries.
That’s pretty awesome, but I hope they have easy restore functionality. Too much tinkering by the inquisitive mind and it could become One Paperweight Per Child.
Oh, hey, you’re at PyCon? If you run into either Jim Fulton or Benji York from Zope Corp., tell them that Slarti says hi.
(They’re co-workers, you see, and one should always take advantage of any opportunity one may have to weird out one’s con-going co-workers that way.
I’ll keep an eye out…
!!
Yay!
The “view source” menu item has been a great democratizer and enabler for the web – I hope it proves equally effective in general.