I'm curious if it's wise to teach students Python using an older version of the language. Back in my high school days in the UK, we were using version 3.4.2, which wasn't even the latest at that time. In 2020, they attempted an upgrade to 3.7, but quickly reverted back to 3.4.2, supposedly due to compatibility issues with long-term projects that older students were working on. Fast forward to now, my former school still has 3.4.2, which is no longer supported. Now that I've moved to college, we started with 3.12, but just recently downgraded to 3.10. I want to know if there are any significant drawbacks to teaching with an outdated version like 3.10, especially when we plan to cover the basics and work on a couple of projects. What are your thoughts?
1 Answer
If you're just teaching the basic to intermediate concepts, using Python 3.10 isn't going to be a huge deal. The fundamental ideas haven’t really changed much over the years. However, if you dive into more specialized topics, you might start to notice differences.
Where can I find these advanced Python topics that really need specific versions?