Mailman 3 November 2002 - Edu-sig

Re: Techniques to force students to plan
by Louis Bertrand 18 Nov '02

18 Nov '02

> Are you doing object-oriented development in Python, or are you doing more > procedural development? If its more procedural, then there's a great > visual flowcharting tool (i.e. you execute flowcharts) available at > http://cis1.wku.edu/visual/ that can help with the design of algorithms. Todd, that link doesn't seem to work. Do you have an update? Thanks --Louis Louis Bertrand <louis.bertrand(a)durhamc.on.ca> School of Technology, Durham College Oshawa, ON, Canada +1.905.721.3111 x2468

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Techniques to force students to plan
by Tim Wilson 18 Nov '02

18 Nov '02

Hi everyone, I'm frustrated right now with my lack of success at getting my students to plan their programs more carefully before diving in and coding. This is especially problematic for the ones who struggle a bit more with programming. I had them work on my last assignment in phases. That seemed to help a little bit, but I think they would benefit even more by forcing them to do more planning. So what works? Is anyone aware of a technique that may be more effective than flowcharting? I'd love to get some ideas of things to try with our next project. -Tim -- Tim Wilson | Visit Sibley online: | Check out: Henry Sibley HS | http://www.isd197.org | http://www.zope.com W. St. Paul, MN | | http://slashdot.org wilson(a)visi.com | <dtml-var pithy_quote> | http://linux.com

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Thanks
by Steve Edwards 14 Nov '02

14 Nov '02

Just a quick note to express my warm thanks to everyone for their feedback and advice - especially to Michael Williams and Tim Wilson who pointed me to some fabulous resources including some of their own. Best regards, Steve Edwards Ô¿Ô¬ steve(a)nowfindme.com -steve(a)totalqualitytraining.com www.nowfindme.com - www.totalqualitytraining.com All truth, in the long run, is only commonsense clarified. Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) Biologist

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string assignment
by Carla Attianese 14 Nov '02

14 Nov '02

Hi everybody, I'm writing a python script that tries to connect to informix DB. I got an error in assigning a SQL Create Table statement to a variable. This is how I did it: CREATE_STATEMENT_TABLE = """ CREATE TABLE rdf_statement (...... .......) """ This is the error I got: SyntaxError: invalid syntax File "C:\Documents and Settings\carla\a.py", line 258 CREATE_STATEMENT_TABLE=""" ^ I tried with single quote, getting the same error.It seems not to accept an assignment of a string to a variable. I'm using Python 2.1.1 on WIndows XP. Am I doing something wrong with the syntax? Thank you and best regards Carla __________________________ Carla Attianese c.attianese(a)cib.na.cnr.it CNR - Cybernetics Institute Via Campi Flegrei, 34 I-80072 Pozzuoli (Naples), Italy +39818675157

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I'm just finishing a Intro Book on Python for the Classroom
by Dave Collins 13 Nov '02

13 Nov '02

Dear Steve and Others, I have just finished a set of Blackline masters for the Secondary High School for use with student 14 - 18. It will sell for $50 Australian (+GST and postage). It is aimed at teaching sequence, selection and repetition, as well as some basic data structures. It includes a CD with solutions to all exercises and assignments. If you are interested I will be happy to send some sample pages in pdf form. Send me an email at dave(a)nolimitsit.com. Dave Collins No Limits IT Inaburra School dave(a)nolimitsit.com www.nolimitsit.com

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'Anyone know
by Cameron Laird 13 Nov '02

13 Nov '02

of a member of faculty at a UCal campus who favors Python? I'm working with a couple of universities that are hesitating about whether Python's right for them.

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Python resources for education
by Steve Edwards 13 Nov '02

13 Nov '02

Hi one and all. Are there any teachers on the list who have actually developed materials for use in the classroom with secondary school children? I have started to introduce and trial some things with some of my Y9's and Y10's here in Western Australia and am looking forward to sharing and trying more. Already some of the kids have programmed Jim Fuller's simple IO device (http://www.jfuller.org) and we are planning on making 'floppy the robot' (http://ohmslaw.com/robot.htm) run on Python. If you have any suggestions on how I can use Python in the classroom and / or any tutorials or resources you would like to share please let me know. Hopefully next year www.nowtellme.com will host some useful Python resources...... assuming I keep my job :-) Best regards, Steve Edwards Ô¿Ô¬ steve(a)nowfindme.com -steve(a)totalqualitytraining.com www.nowfindme.com - www.totalqualitytraining.com All truth, in the long run, is only commonsense clarified. Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) Biologist

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using Python for a CS 2 course
by Dave Reed 12 Nov '02

12 Nov '02

Is anyone out there using Python in a college level CS 2 course? We just started using Python in our CS 1 course this fall (and it appears to be working very well) and we're going to use Python in our CS 2 this January. I used a prepublication copy of a CS 1 Python textbook being written by John Zelle at Wartburg (final version is planned for next fall). Both my colleage and I find the book to do a very nice job of teaching Python, problem solving, and design. We are going to use Python in our CS 2 course this January. My current plans are to have the student use a C++ CS 2 texbook by Main & Savitch and I'll rewrite many of the examples in Python. I'll also be using the "How To Think Like a Computer Scientist" book and my own notes that I'll put together to try to make this work well. Ideally the students will learn the CS 2 concepts, more about Python classes, and a little C++. We will then mainly use C++ in our advanced algorithms course and they will be exposed to other languages in our Programming Languages course. I'd love to hear from any one using Python in CS 2 and share ideas, materials, etc. Thanks, Dave

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Yeah, ive got your mail...Twice!
by Tobias Nygaard 11 Nov '02

11 Nov '02

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c.l.py python textbook feedback request
by Dean Goodmanson 07 Nov '02

07 Nov '02

Quick note to refer to a c.l.py post about Python textbooks: http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=comp.lang.pyth… http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2002-November/129136.html "I wanted to get some feedback on what would make a more successful Python textbook." ...there's a larger textbook thread that I haven't read yet, but this link seems to be a good statement of original goals/questions, and can provide google keywords where needed. - Dean __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? U2 on LAUNCH - Exclusive greatest hits videos http://launch.yahoo.com/u2

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