<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 6/27/05, <b class="gmail_sendername">Guido van Rossum</b> <<a href="mailto:gvanrossum@gmail.com">gvanrossum@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I have second thoughts about Alice too (and not just because Pausch<br>apparently rewrote it in Java :-).<br><br>See for yourself about Pausch's IMO cocky, self-serving attitude:<br><br> <a href="http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/interviews/v6i20_pausch.html">
http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/interviews/v6i20_pausch.html</a><br></blockquote></div><br><br>
<br>
Carnegie Mellon University\ Entertainment Technology Center \<br>
Design Director Randy Pausch:<br>
"( <br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">. The essence of a being a researcher is </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">knowing the answer to a question that nobody else has even asked yet</span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">. It's really a kind of illusion, </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">and I love the creation of illusion, which is why as a kid </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">I was fascinated by theme parks, </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">particularly the stuff that Imagineering has built, </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">because they they're so much better at creating an illusion than almost anybody else</span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">...</span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">I don't focus as much on entertainment as you might think</span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">. So, for example, ...</span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">. The longest-running research project I have is called Alice, ...</span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;"> that is able to provide a better, first exposure to computer programming ...</span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">. But this is much more advanced than Logo was, </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">to the point where it can be used for a full semester course at the college level.</span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">... </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">We've demonstrated that with at-risk students </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">we can both improve retention and grade point average</span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">. And so, when people say, </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">well, how do you feel having a career doing all this frivolity, </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">I hasten to point out that </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">the number of computer science majors in America last year </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">declined by 23 percent</span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">. { </span>educators call Alice frivolous if students can't<br>
type Java by the end of the 14 weeks<span style="font-style: italic;"> }</span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">But what I find fascinating </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">is that, </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">{</span> if a business's profits were down 23 percent, <br>
that be all they could think about, <br>
wouldn't it ?<span style="font-style: italic;"> }</span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">[ </span>Alice is not so trivial <span style="font-style: italic;">]</span><br>
<br>
)-Paush<br>
<br>
<br>
. it is obvious from that interview, <br>
that Paush is not telling us <br>
what he is really feeling critical toward; <br>
<br>
his concern about low enrollments in CS<br>
just doesnt make sense:<br>
<br>
. a field like computer science is not something <br>
one goes into for it's value as a liberal arts education:<br>
you get a technical skill for a particular vocation;<br>
thus, <br>
CS enrollment is naturally going to be <br>
a function of the market's perceived need for <br>
programmers and system analysts<br>
<br>
. indeed, <br>
it is a tribute to the RAD technologies such as Pausch's own Alice system<br>
-- serving the same cp4e spirit as van Rossum's Python language --<br>
that <br>
programming is seen as <br>
<br>
something that all employees are expected to do;<br>
because, machines are getting intelligent enough <br>
to be treated like fellow employees !<br>
<br>
. I imagine that part of Pausch's frustration <br>
has to do with the hurt feelings that were generated <br>
when he moved Alice's scripting language from Python to Java;<br>
ironically,<br>
this is just the niche that Alice needs <br>
to prove it's [/]<span style="font-style: italic;">unique </span>value:<br>
<br>
while Python is the Basic language of the new age,<br>
and is so easy to write <br>
that Alice's enforced menu interface would only slow a student down<br>
<br>
Java, on the other hand,<br>
<br>
is that most-favored assembly language of the new age,<br>
having such a quarrelsome syntax,<br>
that Alice's menu interface can provide most of us with a <br>
much-needed relief from semicolon-itis !<br>
<br>
. when I read that Pausch had trouble with Python's case-sensitivity;<br>
[@] <a href="http://www.alice.org/advancedtutorial/ConwayDissertation.PDF">http://www.alice.org/advancedtutorial/ConwayDissertation.PDF</a><br>
I wondered why he did not see this as a hint to<br>
<br>
complete his system:<br>
<br>
. the obvious goal of a menu system is to <br>
help you find the syntax <br>
by building the command string as you compose by pointing<br>
. after that,<br>
Alice should be inserting command strings into a normal text window<br>
thereby allowing us <br>
to <br>
use both keyboard-typing and menu-pointing <br>
at either the command line<br>
or the current project window<br>
<br>
. it could further assist us<br>
by throwing in the usual RAD perks:<br>
structuring our code with an outliner mode,<br>
and running a syntax checker in the background<br>
<br>
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br>
</span>Pausch:<br>
"(<br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">. we had to wrap a textbook around it, </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">because one of the things I learned painfully is that you can have </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">the best software in the world, </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">but if there isn't the educational infrastructure called the textbook, </span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">no one will start using the software</span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">. Once the textbook was in beta we were in 25 schools.</span><br>
<br>
)-Pausch<br>
<br>
. if Pausch wants respect for a system without a textbook,<br>
he should should put more effort into a robotic tutor<br>
that actually shows you how it would use the system <br>
to solve an example problem<br>
. a robotic system could have a cartoon's message bubble <br>
giving the robot's rationale for each activity,<br>
along with an overview window of the robot's plans<br>
<br>
. most importantly, <br>
the robot's tutorial should give me the same power as<br>
that provided by a book:<br>
<br>
the tutor's pace is controlled by a page-turning button;<br>
and I can stop a tutorial at any time,<br>
(use bookmarks to come back to it),<br>
and ask the robot with a table of contents<span style="font-style: italic;"><br>
[/][whatever questions I have, at the time I have them]<br>
</span><br>
. now, [/]<span style="font-style: italic;">that </span>would be creating the illusion of zero gravity!<br>
on the hand, <br>
being dragged around by programmed intructing, <br>
is far worse than frivolous<br>
-- it.s a penmanship lesson in Sanskrit !<br>
<br>
. it is my hope that the Alice system as I envision it,<br>
can teach all normal preschoolers to program in Python .<br>
<br>-- <br>American Dream Documents<br>"(real opportunity starts with real documentation)