Mailman 3 April 2005 - Edu-sig

Re: Networking in DOSEMU
by Lee Harr 24 Jul '05

24 Jul '05

>I want to ask something not concerning python. Here, you give yourself an excellent hint that this is the wrong place to ask this question. >actualy i want to know how can i connect to my novel server thru dosemu. Here, I am wondering if you mean Novell. Searching is facilitated by correct spelling of the thing you seek. Let's take a look... http://www.google.com/search?q=dosemu+mailing+list Strangely, not the first hit on google, but the 3rd hit looks pretty good: http://dosemu.sourceforge.net/mailinglist.html good luck! _________________________________________________________________ Don't just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.com/

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Python for CS101
by Douglas S. Blank 07 May '05

07 May '05

Edu-sig members, I am proposing that we move our intro courses at Bryn Mawr College to Python. Although I have been using Python for a few years, and have used it in the upper-level courses for teaching robotics, I haven't taught an intro course with it. I am now responding to my colleagues' questions. If you have useful comments, or if you have questions too, please feel free to add them here: http://emergent.brynmawr.edu/emergent/PythonForCS or send them to me (or post them here). I hope when this process is complete, this data will be useful for others ready to make the plunge. Thanks for any feedback, -Doug PS - you'll have to make an account on the wiki; sorry but that cuts down on the kiddie hackers, and only makes it slightly less wiki (wiki wiki is "quick" in Hawaiian). -- Douglas S. Blank, Assistant Professor dblank(a)brynmawr.edu, (610)526-6501 Bryn Mawr College, Computer Science Program 101 North Merion Ave, Park Science Bld. Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 dangermouse.brynmawr.edu

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Re: [Edu-sig] Re: Idle play
by Arthur 29 Apr '05

29 Apr '05

Kirby Urner wrote: >>To break no rules - PyGeo is written in Python. In my case, necessarily. >> >> >>Art >> >> > >Good theorem. In a newbie geometry class, I wish they'd run through a lot >more like Pascal's (mention his age when he hit on it), using something a >lot like PyGeo (or just use PyGeo why not?). > > Why not PyGeo? Because you can only create with it by writing in Python, and Python has significant white space ;) And no buttons. >A big thing for me, before getting into proofs, is to just make clear what a >theorem *asserts* (pretty clear in this case, not always so obvious). > >I think too often we're in too big a rush to deal with the proof (which is >likely pre-supplied, if the theorem is old and/or interesting). But with >newbies, let's just linger on the wealth of assertions in our treasure chest >(like this one from Pascal). > Inductive math is legit. So says G. Polya in "Induction and Analogy in Mathematics -- a guide to the art of plausible reasonning" http://www.sci.uidaho.edu/polya/biography.htm From the preface: "A mathematical proof is demonstrative reasoning, but the inductive evidence of the physicist, the circumstantial evidence of the lawyer, the documentatry evidence of the historian, and the statistical evidence of the economist belong to plausible reasoning." "Everyone knows that mathematics offers an excellant opportunity to learn deomonstrative reasoning, but I contend also that there is no subject in the usual curricula of the schools that affords a comparable opportunity to learn plausible reasoning" I agree with Polya, and think it particularly relevant to computers and math as I think that computers - again thinking of graphics mostly - is more, to me, a weapon for inductive, than deductive, mathmatics Art

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Idle play
by Kirby Urner 29 Apr '05

29 Apr '05

Exciting, the new Python books in the pipe line. I've got an article on hypertoons queued, giving Pyzine first dibs. Just got off the phone with my friend Koski, a Fuller Schooler in Minneapolis. He was showing me some fun cartoons for cubing. Option 1: Consider a penny all alone (=1), then surrounded by a layer of six (=7 total), then surround by another layer of 12 (=19 total) and so on. Each consecutive layer is the next multiple of 6, always this growing hexagon. Now stack consecutive hexagons. You get this "Christmas Tree" with one ball to start at the top, then a layer of 7 below that, then 19, 37, 61... each of greater girth (hence the tree allusion), and always centered around a vertical spine or trunk of pennies (or marbles). Adding n consecutive layers of this Christmas Tree gives n**3. In Python: >>> def hex(n): """ Hexagon """ return 1 + sum([6*i for i in range(n)]) # i goes 0..(n-1) >>> [hex(x) for x in range(1,10)] # to David: x goes 1..9, 10 excluded >>> [1, 7, 19, 37, 61, 91, 127, 169, 217] >>> def tree(n): """ Stack of Hexagons """ return sum([hex(i) for i in range(1,n+1)]) # to n this time >>> [tree(x) for x in range(1,10)] [1, 8, 27, 64, 125, 216, 343, 512, 729] i.e. consecutive cubes. Option 2: Another way David talked about, to get cubes: n**3 = 6 * Tetra + n where Tetra is a tetrahedral number 0,1,4,10,20,35... We looked up Tetra here: http://www.research.att.com/cgi-bin/access.cgi/as/njas/sequences/eisA.cgi?An um=A000292 So... >>> def tetra(n): """ Tetrahedral numbers, with n=1 giving 0, n=2 giving 1... """ return ((n-1)*(n)*(n+1))/6 >>> [tetra(x) for x in range(1,10)] [0, 1, 4, 10, 20, 35, 56, 84, 120] >>> def cube(n): """ n**3 - n is 6 times a tetrahedral number """ return 6*tetra(n) + n >>> [cube(n) for n in range(1,10)] [1, 8, 27, 64, 125, 216, 343, 512, 729] This is idle yet creative play, not super deep math, but still good exercise. An interactive shell makes it fun/accessible. Having geometric cartoons on the side, to show the trees, hexagons, tetrahedral, would add to the experience, to where eventually the imagination could take over (David has a good imagination). Kirby

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re: Data Crunching
by Greg Wilson 26 Apr '05

26 Apr '05

Readers of this newsgroup might be interested in a new book on data crunching, which is available from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0974514071 or directly from the Pragmatic Programmers: http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/titles/gwd/index.html The book covers basic text processing, regular expressions, XML manipulation, binary data handling, and the 10% of relational databases that every programmer should know. Most of the examples are in Python (though Unix command line tools, XSL, and SQL are in there as well). The book is aimed at beginner and intermediate programmers; I hope everyone will find it useful. Thanks, Greg Wilson (its grinning author)

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FW: [Visualpython-users] python-visual in Debian archive
by Arthur 20 Apr '05

20 Apr '05

Floris copied this to edu-sig but not having seen it show up, I thought I should forward it. The PS is I think directed at a(nother) misstatement of mine, here. Art -----Original Message----- From: visualpython-users-admin(a)lists.sourceforge.net [mailto:visualpython-users-admin@lists.sourceforge.net] On Behalf Of Floris Bruynooghe Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 8:43 PM To: VPython Users Cc: edu-sig(a)python.org Subject: [Visualpython-users] python-visual in Debian archive Hi Thought I'd let the intrested people know that the python-visual package is finally in the official Debian archive, it actually made it's way into sarge already. Many thanks to Jonas Smedegaard for adopting the package and making this possible. Floris PS: I never said I was an Ubuntu user... I just said I value the work they do. Eh well, my standard signature might give away my OS preference. ;-) -- Debian GNU/Linux -- The power of freedom www.debian.org | www.gnu.org | www.kernel.org ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: New Crystal Reports XI. Version 11 adds new functionality designed to reduce time involved in creating, integrating, and deploying reporting solutions. Free runtime info, new features, or free trial, at: http://www.businessobjects.com/devxi/728 _______________________________________________ Visualpython-users mailing list Visualpython-users(a)lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/visualpython-users

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RE: [Edu-sig] Re: Beyond CP4E
by Kirby Urner 20 Apr '05

20 Apr '05

> While I understand the need to go beyond talking strictly about > Python, given the historical impetus of CP4E, I found that seemingly > neverending discussions "questioning" the relevance of using computers > in (name your topic or student age group of preference) were > "stretching" the limits of what should be acceptable topics of > discussion on this list. > > André Fair enough and I appreciate the feedback. Kirby PS: I should note for the record that whereas I maintain the edu-sig page at the Python website, I am not the listowner for edu-sig. That'd be Timothy Wilson.

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Re: Beyond CP4E
by Lee Harr 20 Apr '05

20 Apr '05

>Via Lee's cite I come to learn ( I really already knew) that my friends at >Apple are quite confident they have the issues licked. > >http://www.apple.com/education/digitalkids/ > Reading through there reminds me of an interview with some young people that I saw a few weeks ago... 60 minutes or 20/20 maybe. The thing that I remember was one of the kids saying something along the lines of "today everyone is above average" and everyone else nodding in agreement. Blink. _________________________________________________________________ Dont just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/

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RE: [Edu-sig] re: Beyond CP4E
by Arthur 19 Apr '05

19 Apr '05

> -----Original Message----- > From: Kirby Urner [mailto:urnerk@qwest.net] > Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2005 2:11 AM > To: 'Arthur'; edu-sig(a)python.org > Subject: RE: [Edu-sig] re: Beyond CP4E > > > > Speaking of Shakespeare, I think the computer has brought us as close > as > > > we've ever come to Prospero's books. Check Google if the allusion > isn't > > > clear. > > > > Google. Humbug. I'll walk to the library. ;) > > > > Art > > > > Your objections still seem awfully vague to me, more noise than substance. How could it be otherwise? Haven't we - largely because of the power of the computer - learned about the pervasiveness and fundamental reality of non-linear systems. And isn't it clear that in talking about learning we are talking about (at least) non-linear processes. So that linear presentation cannot suffice. And so that a discussion in linear terms being a clear indication of oversimplification. And therefore not worth pursing. The philosophers tend to see ahead about. Is my intuition that this was in part what Wittgenstein was communicating in his non-linear fashion, totally off-base? Be that as it may, if you discount my efforts to communicate on the grounds on which you seem to be doing so, you are leaving the field to the linearists. A mistake. It is true that I don't know more than they do. But would argue that I am exhibiting a more realistic grasp of what I (and they) don't know. Which - under the circumstance is something - an important something. Art

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Re: [Edu-sig] Re: Beyond CP4E
by ajsiegel＠optonline.net 19 Apr '05

19 Apr '05

> I am convinced that more interesting and relevant discussions > would take > place if posters were to adhere more closely to the purpose of > this SIG. When a professor (and author) asks for advice/ideas on getting Python on the agenda in the CSI department of his school, he gets 2 responses - from the usual suspects. IOW, the things that one would expect to generate discussion here - seem not to. The other way to improve the noise/signal ratio is more signal. Either way - I think I have made most of the noise I feel I will need to - so things should improve. Art

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