On Sun, Apr 3, 2011 at 2:39 AM, Corey Richardson <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:kb1pkl@aim.com">kb1pkl@aim.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div class="im">On 04/02/2011 02:16 PM, kirby urner wrote:<br>
> Likewise, Demented Python serves a didactic function,<br>
> here to remind about the decorator:<br>
><br>
> def sillystrip( f ):<br>
> if f.__doc__:<br>
> f.__doc__ = "Your function has been hacked!"<br>
> else:<br>
> f.__doc__ = "You should always have a docstring."<br>
> return f<br>
><br>
> @sillystrip<br>
> def square( x ):<br>
> """could also be a triangle"""<br>
> return x * x<br>
><br>
> def _test():<br>
> frank = 2<br>
> joe = square (frank) # frank is kinda square<br>
> print("Hello Joe, Frank here.")<br>
> print(square.__doc__)<br>
><br>
> if __name__ == "__main__":<br>
> _test()<br>
<br>
</div>Did you see the PyCon2011 video on obfuscating python?<br>
<a href="http://blip.tv/file/4881220" target="_blank">http://blip.tv/file/4881220</a><br>
<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Just checked this out, thanks for the pointer.</div><div><br></div><div>One of the most zany aspects was he's introduced as </div><div>Rev. (Reverend) yet makes no reference to this in his </div>
<div>biographical remarks, nor does anyone bring it up in </div><div>the Q&A out of curiosity -- just not that curious I guess, </div><div>or everyone already knows (Subgenius?), or no one </div><div>really cares (Pycons are notoriously accepting of</div>
<div>Diversity -- you could probably give a talk naked and</div><div>no one would raise an eyebrow).</div><div><br></div><div>I draw a vertical and horizontal axis and label these </div><div>"lore" and "technical stuff" respectively, then draw a</div>
<div>curve representing the event horizon or standard </div><div>bandwidth of the listener / learner (attender). </div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.4dsolutions.net/presentations/p4t_notes.pdf">http://www.4dsolutions.net/presentations/p4t_notes.pdf</a> (page 3)</div>
<div><br></div><div>This talk (Obfuscated Python) was super-duper to the</div><div>technical end with hints at lore, such as when he talks </div><div>about other languages and Curry Haskell in particular </div><div>(Turing Machine etc.).</div>
<div><br></div><div>One hallmark of a super technical talk is you want to </div><div>rewind and stare at the code. Everything seems to go </div><div>by too quickly. You focus and concentrate on the </div><div>technical aspects to the exclusion of all else, which </div>
<div>comes across as a distraction (unwanted noise).</div><div><br></div><div>When you boost the lore component, you get more </div><div>storytelling and it's more like those trade books for adults </div><div>that purport to explain math and/or physics but contain </div>
<div>nary an equation, or just a few to help boost the self esteem </div><div>(self confidence) of the reader. </div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, other types of artistry may be on </div><div>display, such as foreshadowing, character development, </div>
<div>plot twists of various kinds, tone and texture (look and</div><div>feel). The humanities have their liberal arts and crafts.</div><div>It's not like optimizing bandwidth is a new challenge or</div><div>that symbols became powerful only in our lifetimes.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Once you try to capture this stuff (hermeneutics) and teach it, </div><div>you get into semantic networks, ontologies, diagrams every </div><div>bit as technical... (film and theater production are not devoid</div>
<div>of technical tips and tricks, or lets talk about advertising) </div><div>so there's a kind of Mobius strip at work (the art of </div><div>Paul Laffoley comes to mind, for me, at this juncture, as</div><div>both technical and lore-filled). </div>
<div><br></div><div>Take Sesame Street as another good example. There's really </div><div>not much stress understanding the Letter A in the first place, </div><div>once you've memorized your alphabet, the presumed technical </div>
<div>content of a Sesame Street short is far from overwhelming. </div><div>It's designed for stay-at-home guardians as well, who need </div><div>to vacuum, putter about the house, while Big Bird holds forth.</div><div>
<br></div><div>Imagine absorbing computer science concepts, along with</div><div>more of STEM, from similar video clips. Youtube already </div><div>offers plenty of opportunities.</div><div><br></div><div>And yet the lore takes up plenty of bandwidth and leaves </div>
<div>most viewers more satisfied than bored. The whole point </div><div>of television is to make "day dreaming" (so necessary </div><div>when chalkboards and droning pedants are involved) </div><div>quasi-unnecessary. The tube replaces your dreams </div>
<div>with its own. Of course that may serve insidious and/or </div><div>subversive ends (a nation of zombies), but this doesn't</div><div>detract from my point.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GN_Qv79nnI">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GN_Qv79nnI</a></div>
<div>(the "cult of cute" in Japanese animation -- scatological)</div><div><br></div><div>Upshot: Python andragogy and pedagogy will develop </div><div>along different lineages. I'm pioneering zaniness as a </div>
<div>useful component, which takes me in the direction of </div><div>certain kinds of animation we might see on Python.tv</div><div>someday.</div><div><br></div><div>Vi Hart's stuff is somewhat zany, but not over the top. </div>
<div>Mathematicians have long ties to the surreal, </div><div>Alice in Wonderland being the work of a logician. </div><div><br></div><div>OLPC gets somewhat zany in places, without paying </div><div>too high a price. It's a fine line.</div>
<div><br></div><div>A tinge of darkness for happy camper campfire stories:</div><div><a href="http://www.olpcnews.com/people/negroponte/olpc_cia_conspiracy_theory.html">http://www.olpcnews.com/people/negroponte/olpc_cia_conspiracy_theory.html</a></div>
<div><a href="http://www.olpcnews.com/prototypes/xo/olpc_xo_icon_say.html">http://www.olpcnews.com/prototypes/xo/olpc_xo_icon_say.html</a></div><div><br></div><div>Towards the higher end, those on the PSF list know I like </div>
<div>to rope in Greek mythology and play up the Python's </div><div>importance to Athena's cult (also Nike's: "Just Use It"). </div><div><br></div><div>I'm roughly following what's known as the Parthenon Code </div>
<div>among conspiracy theorists, which piggy-backs on the </div><div>better known Da Vinci Code in terms of gaining name </div><div>recognition and notoriety.</div><div><br></div><div>Kirby</div><div><br></div><div><br></div>
<div><br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
--<br>
<font color="#888888">Corey Richardson<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="h5">_______________________________________________<br>
Edu-sig mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Edu-sig@python.org">Edu-sig@python.org</a><br>
<a href="http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig" target="_blank">http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br>