Geeking Out Over Scrabble in Python

One of the core tenets of my teaching philosophy is desirable difficulty. TLDR: Assignments and classes should be hard. By overcoming challenges in higher education, students prepare themselves for the real world. If this concept sounds familiar to you, perhaps it's because Malcom Gladwell popularized it in David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.

To be sure, many of my students aren't fans of the concept—especially when I reinforce it with my syllabus' no-hand-holding policy. I hope, though, that they'll reflect in a few years on it and appreciate the method to my madness.