Mailman 3 October 2001 - Edu-sig

Re: [Edu-sig] Thanks for the tip
by Chris Meyers Oct. 12, 2001

Oct. 12, 2001

Hi Jason I agree it would be great if the book "Who was Fourier.." was available on the web and extended with Python as you suggest. I wonder if the contents could be used in the open source arena. Of course extending the book like this would be a *large* undertaking. The HIPPO club also is intriguing. Too bad there are only two in the U.S. and both out your way. Oregon is a long way from New York. One question that I have. Do students take to this book as enthusiastically as teachers and professionals? Students aren't likely to have had as much exposure previous exposure to the underlying ideas. For many of us, much of the book can be kind of a "cute" review that then leads to some surprising insights. The book has students doing a fair amount of calculation by hand and that's probably a very good way to hammer home the ideas. Those might also be places where students could develope small Python programs to do the calculations as well, getting double mileage from the exercise. I'm thinking of a small project to develope an object class of "wave". A simple wave can be generated from a formula. Operations like addition and multiplication of waves create new and more complex waves. You can play with them at the python interactive prompt. And of course plot them. With a method to integrate a wave it would be straightforward to rediscover the Fourier coefficients using the technique in the book interactively. Then further automation. Maybe a "Python for Fun" project. I've been playing with David Petterssons little frame buffer module that lays on top of SDL. It would be fine for plotting the waves. Right now it's busy hosting turtles in random motion while I'm trying to figure out if StarLogo-like programs can be done effectively in Python. Chris

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Logo in Python
by delza＠landry.alliances.org Oct. 12, 2001

Oct. 12, 2001

There seems to be a lot of interest in recreating a Logo-like environment in Python. I keep seeing people re-doing this (I've re-done it myself). Is there any interest in joining forces to build something or at least bounce ideas around? --Dethe ========================================================================== | dethe(a)burningtiger.com | http://livingcode.manilasites.com | ========================================================================== "Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty-five years now, doctor, and I'm happy to state I've finally won out over it." -- Elwood P. Dowd, Harvey

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Disable Cookie when user close browser
by Titu Kim Oct. 9, 2001

Oct. 9, 2001

Hi, How can i disable the cookie after user closes the browser? I can disable user by setting the expire time to certain value. But i wish i could disable cookie when users close their browsers. Any suggestion is very appreciated. Kim titu __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? NEW from Yahoo! GeoCities - quick and easy web site hosting, just $8.95/month. http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info1

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How to verify an integer or float string
by Titu Kim Oct. 5, 2001

Oct. 5, 2001

Hi, I am trying to verify a string is a legal integer or float. Which method help me to do the job? Thanks a lot Kim Titu __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? NEW from Yahoo! GeoCities - quick and easy web site hosting, just $8.95/month. http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info1

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MD5 in pure Python
by Dinu Gherman Oct. 4, 2001

Oct. 4, 2001

Hi, a long while ago there was a crypto thread here. I remember having posted something about a pure Python MD5 implementa- tion. As at that time it was a bit buggy I've not released it, then, but now I've put it into my Starship cabin: http://starship.python.net/crew/gherman/#md5py This is reasonably tested against the built-in MD5 module, but, of course, you should not use it for any serious pur- pose! Perhaps, this will help retrigger some crypto-activities? (I've seen fancy proposals for Python Crypto-APIs, but not much more.) Regards, Dinu -- Dinu C. Gherman ................................................................ UN Resolution 42/159 on fighting international terrorism (1987), adopted by 153-2 votes (US and Israel against): http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/42/a42r159.htm

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Math weirdness?
by Robert Rickenbrode II Oct. 3, 2001

Oct. 3, 2001

Hey folks, can someone explain these to me: >>> import math >>> math.pi 3.1415926535897931 >>> round (math.pi, 3) 3.1419999999999999 >>> and this: >>> 10./3 3.3333333333333335 These are taken from IDLE on a Win98 machine running Python 2.1.1: >>> import sys >>> print sys.version 2.1.1 (#20, Jul 20 2001, 01:19:29) [MSC 32 bit (Intel)] Thanks, Rob Robert K. Rickenbrode II rkr_ii(a)yahoo.com

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Re: [Edu-sig] Math weirdness?
by Chris Meyers Oct. 3, 2001

Oct. 3, 2001

10/03/2001 9:03:17 AM, Robert Rickenbrode II <rkr_ii(a)yahoo.com> wrote: Interestingly, I get different results on Python 1.5.2 running on a Sparc. For one thing the precision is lower. math.pi is 3.14159265359, and rounding it correctly gives 3.142. 10.0/3 gives 3.33333333333 again 12 digit accuracy. So I think there is a question whether later versions of Python have broken something in floating point calcuations. Chris >Hey folks, can someone explain these to me: > > >>> import math > >>> math.pi >3.1415926535897931 > >>> round (math.pi, 3) >3.1419999999999999 > >>> > > >and this: > > >>> 10./3 >3.3333333333333335 > >These are taken from IDLE on a Win98 machine running Python 2.1.1: > >>> import sys > >>> print sys.version >2.1.1 (#20, Jul 20 2001, 01:19:29) [MSC 32 bit (Intel)] > >Thanks, Rob > >Robert K. Rickenbrode II >rkr_ii(a)yahoo.com > > >_______________________________________________ >Edu-sig mailing list >Edu-sig(a)python.org >http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig >

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Python Tutorial for Math Teachers
by Kirby Urner Oct. 3, 2001

Oct. 3, 2001

Here's a little tutorial I posted for math teachers, using the challenge of programming a Fraction class -- something to use as an on-ramp, in the context of the Python-endowed math classroom (something we'll be seeing more of, I expect): http://www.mathforum.com/epigone/math-learn/starcrumderm Kirby

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Re: measuring python
by Matthias Felleisen Oct. 2, 2001

Oct. 2, 2001

For a follow-up on the Karlsruhe studies at NASA, see http://www-aig.jpl.nasa.gov/public/home/gat/lisp-study.html Since people are slowly figuring out FP in Python, this may just give you an edge on C++ and Java and others. -- Matthias Matthias Felleisen Professor of Computer Science Northeastern University, Boston Rice University, Houston See http://www.teach-scheme.org/ for a new look at high school computing.

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[OT] Question
by WHITSTON＠ltu.edu Oct. 2, 2001

Oct. 2, 2001

To all: I have an "OT" type question and please respond to me privately. Are any of you members of SIGCSE of ACM (special interest group - computer science education of The Association of Computing Machinery)? If so, are you attending SIG-CSE 2002? (I know it is two questions...) Thanks Howard Whitston Instructional Technology Specialist/Adjunct Professor Lawrence Technological University whitston(a)ltu.edu

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