Mailman 3 September 2004 - Edu-sig

Re: [Tutor] what? (late nite entertainment) (*)
by Gregor Lingl 24 Mar '05

24 Mar '05

Now: early morning corrections ... Alfred Milgrom wrote: > Hi Gregor: > > Hard to work out what is what :) as there seems to be a typo in one > line of your code: > > if x[z]: x[z*z:n:z]=y[z*z:n:z] > > (At least it doesn't work on my machine with Python 2.2) > Yeah, I had the idea when playing around with some new features of Python 2.3, as I do sometimes late at night - before shutting down my computer. This one I found at: http://www.python.org/doc/2.3.3/whatsnew/section-slices.html and I looked for an example for use of "assignment with extended slices" ... > Also the subroutine breaks for n = 1 or less. > Maybe you need a line at the start to say > if n <2 : return [0] > what() was intended to generate all primes less than n. (In fact it's an implementation of the sieve of Eratosthenes). The bugs came not only from not beeing interested in primes less than 2 ;-) but also from beeing a little tired already. Sorry. I think the following version repairs that - and hopefully uses less obfuscating variable names (which in fact originally was part of the "riddle"): def primes(n): sieve, zeros = range(n), [0]*n sieve[:2]= 0,0 i = 1 while i*i < n: if sieve[i]: sieve[i*i:n:i]=zeros[i*i:n:i] i += 1 return [p for p in sieve if p] Regards, Gregor >

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Computer Usage
by Joel Kahn 26 Sep '04

26 Sep '04

A rather belated reply, but my schedule will be like that for the rest of the semester. :-( Lloyd Hugh Allen wrote: >It is very important to make friends with your >immediate superior at the Support Center >equivalent and with your principal so that >you can get the freedom to take one or two >machines aside and play with them. It is >extremely difficult to maintain stuff that you >don't have the freedom to experiment on. I *do* have good relationships so far with both my tech boss and my principal, and I plan to keep it that way as much as possible. Between the general instability of our aging network and the limitations on my technical expertise, there is no way I'm putting Knoppix into the CD-ROM drive of one of our school's machines. The only way for me to get the permission to do it would be for me to promise that nothing could possibly go wrong, and then the next of our frequent crashes would be blamed on me whether it was the fault of Knoppix or not. No, any really experimental work will have to be done on totally separate hardware, owned by me, for a long while. I do have an ancient Win95 desktop set up in a corner of the computer lab; my wife and I brought it in from home. Its OK for tinkering with some limited stuff, but a laptop with even slightly better guts under the hood would make many more things possible. If any of you have a still-functional notebook machine that has been completely superseded and that is now simply lurking in a corner, let's talk. Joel __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: Edu-sig Digest, Vol 14, Issue 9
by Lloyd Hugh Allen 19 Sep '04

19 Sep '04

> Subject: [Edu-sig] New Job > Joel said: > should be large enough for a dual partition between > Windows and Linux that I might be tinkering with at > some future time. A few spare batteries would also be > good. Because of various ugly bureaucratic rules, the > donation would have to be to me personally, *not* to > the school; this might affect any tax breaks that you > were hoping to get. However, I can still give plenty > of favorable publicity to whichever person(s) and/or > firm(s) make the donation possible. :-) I am in a similar situation; another individual and I are jointly responsible for maintenance and the inventory of ~600 computers (as well as teaching a full schedule each). However, the district's Support Center sets policy etc. It is very important to make friends with your immediate superior at the Support Center equivalent and with your principal so that you can get the freedom to take one or two machines aside and play with them. It is extremely difficult to maintain stuff that you don't have the freedom to experiment on. To bring it back to Python, the "silver bullet" for experimenting with linux and/or python on machines with sacrosanct hard drives seems to be knoppix. I am amazed by how easily it autoconfigures, especially considering that I still can't quite get X to run under debian on a computer that I built myself (knoppix handles it quite knicely). If you go to http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/KnoppixCustomizations and then look at the very last one, Zope, there is a link to a distribution that claims to include Python 2.3 and VPython. It also seems to contain other educational stuff. This is a secondhand reccommendation; I have played with it as far as "yes, it does boot and is quite pretty", but I haven't yet ensured that it won't write to and destroy an NTFS volume. As with any linux bootcd, make sure that you use extreme caution with writing to ntfs and that you run ntfsfix when you are done if applicable. FAT should be fine though. Good luck.

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New Job
by Joel Kahn 18 Sep '04

18 Sep '04

I recently accepted a position at a public school. I have the combined duties of computer lab supervisor and technical support person for an entire building (about 75 to 100 computers plus related equipment). I think that my new situation presents some (V)Python-related opportunities, but they need to be approached quite carefully. For one thing, my employer is *VERY* conservative, in *all* meanings of the term. Each new idea, program, gadget, &c that might be introduced has to go through a *serious* bureaucratic gauntlet. The administration of the school itself has extremely limited power; key decisions are made at the district level. Another important point: this is a K-2 school, and there are issues about how one can use Python as an educational tool for six-to-eight-year-olds. My short-term wish list: 1. Could someone donate a laptop that they are no longer using? This school has some, but they are all under tight restrictions (see above) and I will need to have a machine that I can experiment on. The main processor doesn't have to be cutting edge, of course, but a lot of RAM would be helpful, and the hard drive should be large enough for a dual partition between Windows and Linux that I might be tinkering with at some future time. A few spare batteries would also be good. Because of various ugly bureaucratic rules, the donation would have to be to me personally, *not* to the school; this might affect any tax breaks that you were hoping to get. However, I can still give plenty of favorable publicity to whichever person(s) and/or firm(s) make the donation possible. :-) 2. I'd like to get some gear to connect a computer to a TV/VCR so that the image going to the computer's monitor will also display directly on the TV and can be recorded on VHS. We already have the TV/VCR in our computer lab, and a computer has been set aside for this project too; we just need the hookup stuff. In this case, the gadget *would* belong to the school, and it just *might* be purchased out of the school's budget. Of course, a donated item certainly would be accepted, as long as the thing works properly. 3. I'm looking for an education-oriented version of Knoppix that can run reliably on a very old Pentium machine with limited RAM and disk space. The CD should be in English; I stress this because there seem to be several education Knoppixes in various European languages, but I'm having a hard time finding an English one. And remember the age group that I'm dealing with: six to eight years. This is a start. I'm open to suggestions, but keep in mind that change is real slow at this place. Joel __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Address AutoComplete - You start. We finish. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

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FW: OSS license for a book?
by Arthur 11 Sep '04

11 Sep '04

David Handy has some new competition on the way apparently. Art -----Original Message----- From: James Allen [mailto:jfallen@gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2004 8:56 PM To: Schoolforge Discuss; Debian-Edu Subject: Re: OSS license for a book? On Tue, 7 Sep 2004 15:45:18 -0700, Bill Kendrick <nbs(a)sonic.net> wrote: > > I've been considering writing a short book (aimed at young children) > that introduces programming using Python. I like this idea. Python is an excellent first language and I know young children who would like to learn to program but get frustrated looking at most docs and/or books. > I'm not certain this will ever be publsihed in /print/, but regardless of > that, I'm planning on releasing it under an Open Source license. > > The two big ones I'm aware of are the GNU FDL (Free Doc. Lic.), > and the Open Publication Lic. (which Manual.Gimp.org was published under). > > I haven't actually LOOKED closely at these licenses, but was wondering > if there are any others I should consider. What would be the most > beneficial to the community? (I'm hoping for updates, corrections, > translations, etc. to be applicable w/ the least resistance, and for it > to be the most flexible so far as becoming part of larger projects, > such as Debian-Edu.) I have seen discussions on debian mailing lists and elsewhere. The GNU FDL is considered by Debian to be a non-free license because of the part that contains "invariant sections" whereby you can make a section non-changeable. http://people.debian.org/~srivasta/Position_Statement.html The one I currently use for my documentation is the Open Publication License which is used by at least some Debian documentation (I haven't checked all the Debian docs). Other ones you might want to consider are the Design Science Lisence http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html which is used by the Linux Cookbook. Creative Commons has several that are customizable. http://creativecommons.org/ The Free Software Foundation has a sight that discusses the various licenses. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html James Allen -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-edu-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org

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Images in VPython: Faces
by Joel Kahn 10 Sep '04

10 Sep '04

The attached script contains another approach to the process of displaying images in VPython. Instead of there being an object for each "pixel," two triangles on a faces object are placed together to produce a square, as noted in the appropriate comment lines. As with my "objects" example, I kept this prototype as simple as possible; there are many things that could be done with varying normals, z-axis-positions, &c that I haven't touched yet. The new "faces" algorithm delivers the image to the screen significantly more quickly than the "objects" system, and it seems to be able to handle much higher resolution pictures; still, I suggest beginning your experiments with small bitmaps to play it safe. As always, feedback is encouraged. Joel __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com import Image from visual import * # "Faces" object is used to display bitmap image. autocenter = 1 scene = display() scene.width = 1024 scene.height = 738 scene.x = 0 scene.y = 0 # Adjust ambient light and normal values to your preference. scene.ambient = 0.7 nrm = vector (0.5, 0.5, 0.5) Picture = Image.open ("bitmap.bmp") Picture = Picture.convert ("RGB") Pic_si = Picture.size Pic_width = Pic_si[0] Pic_height = Pic_si[1] Pic_fr = frame () Pic = faces (frame = Pic_fr) # To form each "pixel," two isosceles right triangles are placed # hypotenuse to hypotenuse to make a square. for xx in arange (Pic_width): for yy in arange (Pic_height): pxl = Picture.getpixel ((xx, yy)) x2 = int (xx - Pic_width / 2) y2 = int (yy - Pic_height / 2) rr = pxl[0] / 256.0 gg = pxl[1] / 256.0 bb = pxl[2] / 256.0 Pic.append (pos = (x2, y2, 0.0), color = (rr, gg, bb), normal = nrm) Pic.append (pos = (x2, y2 - 1, 0.0), color = (rr, gg, bb), normal = nrm) Pic.append (pos = (x2 + 1, y2, 0.0), color = (rr, gg, bb), normal = nrm) Pic.append (pos = (x2 + 1, y2, 0.0), color = (rr, gg, bb), normal = nrm) Pic.append (pos = (x2, y2 - 1, 0.0), color = (rr, gg, bb), normal = nrm) Pic.append (pos = (x2 + 1, y2 - 1, 0.0), color = (rr, gg, bb), normal = nrm) # Upside down image is rotated in its frame to be right side up. Pic_fr.rotate (angle = pi, axis = (0.0, 0.0, 1.0), origin = (0.0, 0.0, 1.0))

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Re: [Edu-sig] FW: OSS license for a book?
by David Handy 09 Sep '04

09 Sep '04

I wish him success (too). Writing a book is *hard*, much harder than I thought when I started this project two years ago, which is just now coming to full fruition. Anyway, the more people write beginning books for Python, the more non-technical people will hear about it. That's a good thing IMO. David H. (First reply went just to Art - new mail client, oops.) > David Handy has some new competition on the way apparently. > > Art > > -----Original Message----- > From: James Allen [mailto:jfallen@gmail.com] > Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2004 8:56 PM > To: Schoolforge Discuss; Debian-Edu > Subject: Re: OSS license for a book? > > On Tue, 7 Sep 2004 15:45:18 -0700, Bill Kendrick <nbs(a)sonic.net> wrote: > > > > I've been considering writing a short book (aimed at young children) > > that introduces programming using Python. > > I like this idea. Python is an excellent first language and I know > young children who would like to learn to program but get frustrated > looking at most docs and/or books. > > > I'm not certain this will ever be publsihed in /print/, but regardless of > > that, I'm planning on releasing it under an Open Source license. > > > > The two big ones I'm aware of are the GNU FDL (Free Doc. Lic.), > > and the Open Publication Lic. (which Manual.Gimp.org was published under). > > > > I haven't actually LOOKED closely at these licenses, but was wondering > > if there are any others I should consider. What would be the most > > beneficial to the community? (I'm hoping for updates, corrections, > > translations, etc. to be applicable w/ the least resistance, and for it > > to be the most flexible so far as becoming part of larger projects, > > such as Debian-Edu.) > > I have seen discussions on debian mailing lists and elsewhere. The GNU > FDL is considered by Debian to be a non-free license because of the > part that contains "invariant sections" whereby you can make a section > non-changeable. > http://people.debian.org/~srivasta/Position_Statement.html > The one I currently use for my documentation is the Open Publication > License which is used by at least some Debian documentation (I haven't > checked all the Debian docs). > > Other ones you might want to consider are the Design Science Lisence > http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html > which is used by the Linux Cookbook. Creative Commons has several that > are customizable. > http://creativecommons.org/ > > The Free Software Foundation has a sight that discusses the various > licenses. > http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html > > James Allen > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-edu-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact > listmaster(a)lists.debian.org > > _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list > Edu-sig(a)python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig > >

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PyScheme
by Arthur 09 Sep '04

09 Sep '04

Study the The Structure and Control of Computer Programs Available free online at: http://www-mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/ without leaving home, using Danny Yoo's pyscheme, which seems to have take a leap forward in its recent 1.51 release http://hkn.eecs.berkeley.edu/~dyoo/python/pyscheme/ The world is conspiring to make it convenient for me to become a better programmer. Hope I take up the offer. Art

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A suggestion for a high school programming project
by Paul Barrett 08 Sep '04

08 Sep '04

I was at SciPy (the Scientific Python Conference) in Pasadena, CA last week. There were some good talks about scientific applications of Python. One talk by Michel Sanner and his collaborators of the Scripps Research Institute was about their Vision library, which used to be called Viper. Michel has demonstrated this software at previous SciPy Conferences and possibly at one of the Python Conferences in the last few years. For those who are not familiar with the module. Vision (http://www.scripps.edu/~sanner/python/viper/) is a visual-programming environment in which a user can interactively build networks describing novel combinations of computational methods, and yielding new visualizations of their data without actually writing code. Nodes encapsulating specific computational methods are organized in libraries and displayed in Vision. The user can drag-and-drop them onto a canvas and connect their input and output ports to define an execution flow. Subnetworks can be encapsulated into macro nodes, allowing nesting of networks. Also during lunch on Friday, I was given a tour of the CalTech Infrared lab, where they are building some IR detectors for one of their telescopes. To control and test one of the new IR detectors, they use a commercial application called LabView, which allows electronics engineers to create programs visually by connecting the outputs of one node to the inputs of other nodes. Sounds like Vision doesn't it. For a number of years now (about a decade or so), I've had this vision (not to be confused with the Python library) of being able to use Python to develop space missions for NASA from beginning-to-end. That is from the hardware development phase of a NASA mission, where the scientists and engineers are building and testing the hardware, to the publication phase, where scientists are preparing their results for publication. The SciPy community is starting to get close to this ideal. We currently have numarray, the multidimensional array library, matplotlib, the cross-platform graphics library, and the scipy package of scientific algorithms. However, there is currently no software for programming and testing electronics hardware like LabView. My suggestion therefore is to create such a package using Vision. In my opinion, creating such a package should not be too difficult. Vision already provides the visual programming environment. The next step is to extend it with software for creating electronic circuits. I'm guessing that advanced high school students should be able to tackle this project with some guidance from a computer science teacher and an electronics teacher. In addition, a possible application of this package would be to create an OBDII (On-Board Diagnostics 2) scanner for reading information from a car's microprocessor. Hardware, which can be used to interface the car's microprocessor to a laptop, can be purchased for about $100. Having heard Jeff Elkner talk about his experiences teaching Python to students at Yorktown HS in Arlington, VA, I think this project is achievable for a group of advanced high school students. What I think is nice about this project is that it has practical applications. Any takers or am over the top on this one? -- Paul -- Paul Barrett, PhD Space Telescope Science Institute Phone: 410-338-4475 ESS/Science Software Branch FAX: 410-338-4767 Baltimore, MD 21218

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Bitmaps in VPython
by Joel Kahn 08 Sep '04

08 Sep '04

By using the attached script, in which a module from the Python Imaging Library is combined with VPython, you can display a bitmap image on a rectangular grid of VPython objects. Once the basic image is in place, of course, you can use VPython's strong capabilities for animation &c to produce a wide variety of visual effects. As I attempted to indicate in the script's comment lines, I suggest starting out with rather small bitmaps until you see what kind of results you get on your particular hardware. If anyone else has been experimenting with similar algorithms, I would be interested in seeing their work. This class of programs would seem to offer a broad range of potential benefits for education and lots of other areas. Email if you have questions. Joel __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 50x more storage than other providers! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail # This program requires both # the Python Imaging Library # and VPython. import Image from visual import * # This program is designed for putting bitmap # images into VPython; non-bitmap file types # may require other approaches. autocenter = 1 scene = display() scene.width = 1024 scene.height = 738 scene.x = 0 scene.y = 0 Picture = Image.open ("bitmap.bmp") # The preceding line is technically pseudocode; # substitute the name of your own bitmap file (with # appropriate path info &c) for the name "bitmap." # For initial trials, stick to images with a # resolution of 100 x 100 or less. Pic_si = Picture.size Pic_width = Pic_si[0] Pic_height = Pic_si[1] Pic = [] for xx in arange (Pic_width): for yy in arange (Pic_height): pxl = Picture.getpixel ((xx, yy)) x2 = int (xx - Pic_width / 2) y2 = int (yy - Pic_height / 2) rr = pxl[0] / 256.0 gg = pxl[1] / 256.0 bb = pxl[2] / 256.0 Pic = Pic + [box (pos = (x2, y2, 0.0), color = (rr, gg, bb))] # Objects other than boxes should be just # as usable and can produce a wide # variety of visual effects. Pic_Array = array (Pic) lenn = len (Pic_Array) # If your image initially appears upside down, # use the following code to turn it right side up. for aa in arange (lenn): Pic_Array[aa].rotate (angle = pi, axis = (0.0, 0.0, 1.0), origin = (0.0, 0.0, 1.0))

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