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+____
+# Tips and Tricks
+
+____
+## Making a handout
+
+Librarians like handouts. To make a handout for this lesson, adapt/print from [http://data-lessons.github.io/library-python/reference/](http://data-lessons.github.io/library-python/reference/).
+
+_____
+# General notes on python
+
+## Overall
+
+This lesson is written as an introduction to Python,
+but its real purpose is to introduce the single most important idea in programming:
+how to solve problems by building functions,
+each of which can fit in a programmer's working memory.
+In order to teach that,
+we must teach people a little about
+the mechanics of manipulating data with lists and file I/O
+so that their functions can do things they actually care about.
+Our teaching order tries to show practical uses of every idea as soon as it is introduced;
+instructors should resist the temptation to explain
+the "other 90%" of the language
+as well.
+
+Explain that we use Python because:
+
+*   It's free.
+*   It has a lot of scientific libraries, and more are constantly being added.
+*   It has a large scientific user community.
+*   It's easier for novices to learn than most of the mature alternatives.
+    (Software Carpentry originally used Perl;
+    when we switched,
+    we found that we could cover as much material in two days in Python
+    as we'd covered in three days in Perl,
+    and that retention was higher.)
+
+We do *not* include instructions on running the Jupyter Notebook in the tutorial
+because we want to focus on the language rather than the tools.
+Instructors should, however, walk learners through some basic operations:
+
+*   Launch from the command line with `jupyter notebook`.
+*   Create a new notebook.
+*   Enter code or data in a cell and execute it.
+*   Explain the difference between `In[#]` and `Out[#]`.
+
+Watching the instructor grow programs step by step
+is as helpful to learners as anything to do with Python.
+Resist the urge to update a single cell repeatedly
+(which is what you'd probably do in real life).
+Instead,
+clone the previous cell and write the update in the new copy
+so that learners have a complete record of how the program grew.
+Once you've done this,
+you can say,
+"Now why don't we just break things into small functions right from the start?"