Some minor edits to the loops lesson

[chinchliff]

I added a challenge problem that introduces while loops--these don't seem to be critical to the lesson material but they are an important element of programming and it seems useful to at least mention them here. I also reworded some of the explanation/discussion of mutable vs. immutable variables, in an effort to improve clarity. Finally, I made a couple of other (very minor) changes to some examples.

[rgaiacs]

@chinchliff Thanks for this. The file novice/python/03-loop.md is generated using

$ make ipynb

Do you mind

• Create a new feature branch

$ git remote add upstream git@github.com:swcarpentry/bc.git
$ git fetch upstream
$ git checkout upstream/gh-pages
$ git checkout -b improve-python-loop

• Redo your changes from novice/python/03-loop.md at novice/python/03-loop.ipynb.
• Run

$ make ipynb

• Commit the new changes

$ git commit -a

• Push the commits at the feature branch

$ git push origin improve-python-loop

• Create a new pull request. Open https://github.com/swcarpentry/bc/ and GitHub will suggest you create a pull request. You just need to follow the instructions.
• Close this pull request informing that it was replaced by your new pull request.

Why am I requesting this? (1) To you learn a little about branches, (2) to avoid the commit where you edit novice/python/03-loop.md by hand and (2) to avoid the various "minor formatting edit" commits. If you need any help just ask.

[gvwilson]

Hi @chinchliff,

We can make this even easier - if you're willing to wait a couple of
days, you'll be able to make your change in Markdown only (no IPython
Notebook) in the new Python lesson repo - we're that close to merging
it. Please stay tuned... Or if you want to go ahead and merge here,
please do - we're happy to get content either way.

cheers,
Greg

[chinchliff]

Hi Greg, Raniere,

I'm happy to wait a couple of days. If you could give me a heads up when
the new repo is ready I'll make a new pull request there with the changes.

On Monday, November 24, 2014, Greg Wilson notifications@github.com wrote:

Hi @chinchliff,

We can make this even easier - if you're willing to wait a couple of
days, you'll be able to make your change in Markdown only (no IPython
Notebook) in the new Python lesson repo - we're that close to merging
it. Please stay tuned... Or if you want to go ahead and merge here,
please do - we're happy to get content either way.

cheers,
Greg

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Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub
#896 (comment).

[dlebauer]

This is a good explanation, but be sure to also change the definition in the glossary for consistency.