The introcs Package¶
The purpose of this package is to provide proper masking, giving instructors more flexibility in how they arrange their Python course. Masking takes a complex feature and hides it behind a simpler interface. When the students have mastered that interface, the instructor can remove it and allow students direct access to the complex feature.
For example, this package provides non-method string functions for basic functionality such as searching, replacing, and testing. This allows the students to write interesting text-manipulation functions when they are just starting out, without having to understand the extra subtleties of method calls. When they are ready to move on to method calls, the students are free (and encouraged) to stop using these functions.