Mailman 3 September 2001 - Edu-sig

measuring python...
by Jeffrey Elkner 30 Nov '01

30 Nov '01

Hi All! I'm trying to get together a master's thesis and was hoping to do something related to Python's suitability as a language for teaching programming. I was thinking of comparing Python, C++, and Java solutions to common first year computer science problems in terms of length and readability. Comparing length is not a problem. "Readability" on the other hand is not easy to define in any quantifiable way. I was thinking of trying something like "tokens per line". Any thoughts? Thanks! jeff elkner yorktown high school arlington, va

6 12

Re: Edu-sig digest, Vol 1 #407 - 9 msgs ... Msg.No 1:measuring python...
by L. Humbert 30 Sep '01

30 Sep '01

> Message: 1 > From: Jeffrey Elkner <jeff(a)elkner.net> > To: edu-sig(a)python.org > Date: 29 Sep 2001 14:47:46 -0400 > Subject: [Edu-sig] measuring python... > > Hi All! > > I'm trying to get together a master's thesis and was hoping to do > something related to Python's suitability as a language for teaching > programming. I was thinking of comparing Python, C++, and Java > solutions to common first year computer science problems in terms of > length and readability. > > Comparing length is not a problem. "Readability" on the other hand is > not easy to define in any quantifiable way. I was thinking of trying > something like "tokens per line". > > Any thoughts? You may take a look at the contest which is documented in short form in english: [Prechelt 2000a] PRECHELT, Lutz: An empirical comparison of C, C++, Java, Perl, Python, Rexx and Tcl. In: IEEE Computer 33 (2000), October, Nr. 10, S. 23-29. - http://wwwipd.ira.uka.de/~prechelt/Biblio/jccpprt_computer2000.pdf [Prechelt 2000b] PRECHELT, Lutz: An empirical comparison of C, C++, Java, Perl, Python, Rexx and Tcl for a search/string-processing program / Fakultät für Informatik, Universität Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe, March 2000b ( 2000-5). - Forschungsbericht. http://wwwipd.ira.uka.de/~prechelt/Biblio/jccpprtTR.pdf 34 Seiten ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ Another interesting article regarding teaching informatics and look a apropriate language: [Böszörményi 1998] BöSZöRMéNYI, László: Why Java is not my favorite first-course language. In: Software - Concepts & Tools 19 (1998), S. 141-145. - http://www.ifi.uni-klu.ac.at/ITEC/Publications/showabs?1998-0033-Boes [Böszörményi 2001] BöSZöRMéNYI, László: JAVA für Anfänger? Warum JAVA nicht meine Lieblingssprache für einen Anfängerkurs ist. In: LOG IN 21 (2001), Nr. 1, S. 14-19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ The series from David Merz regarding functional programming [Mertz 2001a] MERTZ, David: Charming Python: Even More Functional Programming in Python. In: IBM developerWorks (2001), June. - Series: Charming Python 19 http://gnosis.cx/publish/tech_index.html http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-prog3.html [Mertz 2001b] MERTZ, David: Charming Python: Functional programming in Python. In: IBM developerWorks (2001), April. - Series: Charming Python 13 http://gnosis.cx/publish/tech_index.html http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-prog.html [Mertz 2001c] MERTZ, David: Charming Python: More Functional Programming in Python. In: IBM developerWorks (2001), March. - Series: Charming Python 16 http://gnosis.cx/publish/tech_index.html http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-prog2.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ I'm working on an article for http://seciii.cs.uni-dortmund.de/ July, 23 2002 which will be presented at the german afternoon -- so it will be in german: Welche Programmiersprache unterstützt meine Konzepte für den Informatikunterricht? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ The above mentioned articles where useful for me, when I was first assembling material for the talk. Ludger Humbert

1 0

Programming for Fun Quote
by Arthur Siegel 30 Sep '01

30 Sep '01

Jason writes - >The orginal writer's view was that for teaching purposes in shools, >programming is perhaps better approached from linguistic perspective first, >than to be treated as Mathematics. At least part of my perspective is related not so directly on how to teach programming, per se, but how most effectively to fit programming fundamentals into a curriculum. A select few take programming courses, while we are all (correctly, IMO) exposed to math courses. An understanding of programming fundamentals allows for an enhanced math curriculum - ala Kirby, for example. And I believe that enhancing and enlivening a mathematics curriculum justifies the commitment of resources to teaching/learning programming as core curriculum, to an extent beyond what is true for programming - standalone. Art

3 3

Zquest - on-line e-learning tool with graphics method [Python/Zope based]
by Jason Cunliffe 28 Sep '01

28 Sep '01

Stefan Richter and his bright team have been busy applying their heady DBObjects stuff, putting it to work for netlearning. Uses PIL, PostgreSQL adn more. I have not tried it out yet. http://demo.iuveno-net.de/iuveno/Products/ZQuest and new Graph Method http://demo.iuveno-net.de/iuveno/Products/GraphMethod - Jason

1 0

Re: [Edu-sig] Programming for Fun Quote
by Lloyd Hugh Allen 28 Sep '01

28 Sep '01

Mathematics hasn't provided a theoretically infinite level of abstraction since 1934, when Godel gave his lectures on uncertainty. It seems strange to me to separate mathematics and language (math seems to have syntax and grammar), but maybe I've been doing too much geometry and logic, and reading too much Hofstadter.

2 1

Passing parameters to eval.
by Titu Kim 27 Sep '01

27 Sep '01

>Hi, > I appreciate all replies to my previous quesions. >This time, I am trying to pass two parameter to eval >function so it can evaluate and return the result base >on the parameter i gave. For examples: > >********func.py*************** >def fun (): > print v1+v2 > >**************pro.py*********** >from func import * >funname = "fun()" >v1 = "Hello " >v2 = "World" >eval(funname) >**************************** >I know these code will not run. If i put fun in the >same file as pro.py, it works. What i want is to let >fun in func.py to have access to variable v1 and v2 >which are declared in pro.py. How can i do this? Any >guidance or suggestion is highly appreciated. I know this construct is weird. The reason i do this is the following: I have a cgi page that maintain the step to perform based on the form fields it receives. There are many fields this main cgi will receive. But each page pointing to this main page may send different set of fields. So base on the fields main cgi page get, it can determine which page to run next. My plan is to get the name of the function and pass it to eval. But that particular function passed to eval will use some parameters received by main page. That is why i wish to make all the variables in main page to be visible by other functions so i don't have to worry what parameters to be passed. Any good alternative to this problem? Thanks a lot. Kim Titu __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com

3 4

How to pass parameters to eval?
by Titu Kim 26 Sep '01

26 Sep '01

Hi, I appreciate all replies to my previous quesions. This time, I am trying to pass two parameter to eval function so it can evaluate and return the result base on the parameter i gave. For examples: ********func.py*************** def fun (): print v1+v2 **************pro.py*********** from func import * funname = "fun()" v1 = "Hello " v2 = "World" eval(funname) **************************** I know these code will not run. If i put fun in the same file as pro.py, it works. What i want is to let fun in func.py to have access to variable v1 and v2 which are declared in pro.py. How can i do this? Any guidance or suggestion is highly appreciated. Kim Titu __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com

3 2

Send email using qmail.
by Titu Kim 25 Sep '01

25 Sep '01

Hi, I have some problem when sending out a mail using qmail. How can i implement a simple email mechanism Command? that will send an email througt qmail in python? Most of the examples i saw on the internet are using sendmail instead of qmail. Somebody please enlight me. Thanks alot. Kim Titu __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com

3 2

Get arbitrary time in seconds
by Titu Kim 25 Sep '01

25 Sep '01

How can i get the gmt time in second given the parameters year, month, day, hour, minute and seconds of the day only. I found that mktime can do this but it need three more tuples. How can i get around with this? Thanks a lot. Kim Titu __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com

2 1

Calculating area of a surface plane on a spherical body
by Jaap Spies 25 Sep '01

25 Sep '01

> Given > 3 points on a plane, how would one use Python to calculate the > surface area of that plane. I'm assuming numpy would be used because > it's going to run quite frequently. > > To give more of an explaination, I'm trying to develop an educational > program that is adding mathematics to my existing attempt to merge > science(geology) and programming. Students will take coordinate data > (either in lat/lon or UTM format) and enter the data into their > programs to manipulate it, so the points will probably be in lat/lon > format. > > If a program already exisits with such a solution, I wouldn't mind > reading the code. Otherwise, I'd like a math guru's opinion on > well-formed solutions. > Sorry, my reaction is a little bit late. When the area is small compared with R*R (R = 6000 km, radius or the earth), you may consider a polygon in a plane (maps are based on this concept). The area of a polygon P0, P1, P2, ..., Pn with P0 = Pn, can be calculated with a simple algorithm: A = ( sum from i=0 to n-1 (y[i+1] - y[i])*(x[i+1] + x[i]) ) / 2 where (x[i], y[i]) represents the coordinates of point P with index i. All you have to do is translate lat/lon in rectangular coordinates. Girard's theorem: A = sum from i=1 to n (theta[i]) - (n-2) * pi, (R=1) is for relative small area's rather sensitive for errors in the theta's. Jaap Spies, Institute of Technology Hogeschool Drenthe

1 0