Python/Theories

I need input on this topic because it’s kinda confusing or i’m too dumb, our governement decided recently to shift from pascal to python as a programming language for high school students, but then i realised that we have theoretical language+python.
And the theoretical language is waaaay different than python, for example in python u can just do “**” for exponents but in theoretical language you actually have to write a function that does that, in conclusion is it fine if the theoretical language and python are too different or do you find it confusing

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I think we need more context. What is “the theoretical language”? Where
is it defined?

Bear in mind that in teaching there may often be examples of how to
implement some things that come presupplied in one language or another.
Just because Python has an ** exponentiation operator does not mean it
isn’t useful to implement exponentiation as a teaching exercise.

I’m just guessing here. Some more context would be helpful.

Cheers,
Cameron Simpson cs@cskk.id.au

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Hi Firas, welcome!

I am guessing that English is not your native language?

In English, a “theoretical language” would be one that doesn’t yet
exist. It exists only “in theory”, not in practice.

From your experience of Pascal, you might be thinking of languages (like
Pascal) which were designed to be simple, for teaching. Sometimes
called a “teaching language” or an “academic language”.

I don’t think that is a useful description, because teaching/academic
languages sometimes get used for practical work for a long time. Pascal
is a great example. Even though Pascal is not very popular today, there
was a time that it was nearly as popular as BASIC, which was provided on
nearly every PC.

In the Apple world, Pascal was used to write the Mac operating system
and most programs until 1991, when Apple wrote System 7 in C++ instead
of Pascal.

There are thousands of known computer languages. A couple of hundred of
them are still in regular use today, although about 75% of code written
today comes from perhaps a dozen languages:

  • C
  • C++
  • C#
  • Go
  • Java
  • Javascript
  • PHP
  • Python
  • R
  • SQL
  • Swift
  • Visual Basic

There are many different programming languages, and they are often very
different to use. They differ in what basic features they provide, the
style of coding they use, and much more.

https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Language_Comparison_Table

Here is a nice list of “Hello World” programs in various languages.

https://www.scriptol.com/programming/hello-world.php

Does this help?