Mailman 3 August 2005 - Edu-sig

ANN: Python training, Aug 29-31, San Francisco
by CyberWeb Consulting Aug. 10, 2005

Aug. 10, 2005

hi all, just wanted to announce our next public Python course, a 3-day intensive training session held near the San Francisco airport at the end of this month. Secondary and post-secondary (students and) educators get a 50% discount off the regular course fee of $1095US. this discount is described further in the FAQ at the website below. if you're going to be teaching Python this coming school year, this will prep you for it. the only real prerequisite is that you are familiar with at least one other high-level programming language like BASIC, Pascal, Java, C++, etc. for more info and registration, go to http://cyberwebconsulting.com (click "Python training"). the full course annoucenment is below. please sign up quickly as there are only 10 more open spots! let me know if you have any questions. thanks, -wesley What: Python Programming I: Introduction to Python When: August 29-31, 2005 Where: San Francisco, CA, USA Already know Java, Perl, C/C++, JavaScript, PHP, or TCL/Tk, but want to learn Python because you've been hearing about how Google, Yahoo!, Industrial Light & Magic, Red Hat, Zope, NASA, and IronPort are using this object-oriented, open source applications and systems development language? Python is rapidly gaining momentum worldwide and seeing more new users each year. While similar to those other languages, Python differentiates itself with a robust yet simple-as-VB syntax which allows for shorter development time and improved group collaboration. Need to get up-to-speed with Python as quickly as possible? Come join us in beautiful Northern California the week before Labor Day. We are proud to announce another rigorous Python training event taught by software engineer and "Core Python Programming" author, Wesley Chun. This is an intense introduction to Python programming geared towards those who have some proficiency in another high-level language. Topics include: * Python's Objects and Memory Model * Data Types, Operators, and Methods * Errors and Exception Handling * Files and Input/Output * Functions and Functional Programming * Modules and Packages * Classes, Methods, and Class Instances * Callable and Executable Objects This course will take place daily August 29-31, 2005 (Monday through Wednesday, 9am - 5pm) in San Bruno, CA, right near the San Francisco International Airport at the: Staybridge Suites San Francisco Airport 1350 Huntington Ave San Bruno, CA 94066 650-588-0770 This venue provides free shuttles to/from the airport and has easy access to public transit (BART, CalTrain, SamTrans) to help you get all over the Bay Area. Afterwards, feel free to enjoy the holiday weekend in the greatest city by the Bay... bring your families!! Sign up quickly as we can only take 15-20 enrollees! For more information and registration, just go to http://cyberwebconsulting.com and click on the "Python Training" link. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at cyberweb-at-rocketmail.com. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Core Python Programming", Prentice Hall, (c)2001 http://www.corepython.com wesley.j.chun :: cyberweb at rocketmail.com cyberweb.consulting :: silicon.valley, ca http://www.cyberwebconsulting.com

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Re: [Edu-sig] Postmortem of my OSCON talk
by Arthur Aug. 8, 2005

Aug. 8, 2005

Kirby Urner wrote: >And what suggests to you that you're not in the realm of folly, a guy who >discounts the past entirely? > > You see a devastated planet, then suggest I am discounting the past by critiquing an agenda whose implimentation is dependant upon a massive conversion to Altruism. I believe reason, and a reasoned look at the past, would allow us to do better than that. Art

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Postmortem of my OSCON talk
by Arthur Aug. 8, 2005

Aug. 8, 2005

>>/ But - were I hungry - I don't know how I would feel about the touting of />/> 3D/MP3 players with changeable skins, as a step toward my salvation. />/> />/> Art / >Hungry to get dealt into the game. On the Math Forum, I'm already >suggesting having a cell phone on one's person is every child's right. >Kirby Suggest away. And what do you see in the rear view mirror that suggests to you that you are not in the realm of folly. Art

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Re: [Edu-sig] Postmortem of my OSCON talk
by Arthur Aug. 8, 2005

Aug. 8, 2005

> -----Original Message----- > From: Kirby Urner [mailto:urnerk@qwest.net] > Just look in the rear view mirror and ask if technology has been of net > benefit along our shared highway to this point. If yes, why shouldn't > present trends continue? If no, what fork in the road would you prefer > we'd > have taken? Evolution is a trial and error process. Considering the nature of the curve that tracks our history on the planet, and the development of the kind of technology which we are referring to, there is nothing to be learned by a look in the rear view mirror. More important then being equipped with the ability to develop tools, is our ability to use reason. *That* is what evolution has provided us with as our survival tool. Talk of an inevitable tsunami in an admission that there is something afoot that is beyond the control of our reason. I am unready to make that admission. Art

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Re: [Edu-sig] Postmortem of my OSCON talk
by Arthur Aug. 7, 2005

Aug. 7, 2005

Kirby writes: """ As I've said before, I don't think there's any stopping this technology tsunami that's upon us (putting it that way makes it sound like a disaster). What we can do is manage and adapt to change, not stop it altogether. I think we're on an evolutionary trajectory that's ultimately about improving living standards around the world, ending death by starvation and yadda yadda. In other words, I'm up beat about this technology's potential. """ I take you as having found the word "tsunami" as appropriate, not meaning something bringing disaster - but certainly meaning something which is so powerful as to be unstoppable and beyond control. If that is true - and I am not disputing that directly - it is true only to the extent the roll out is in a form that is unthreatening to the interests of the world-as-it-is and the power-structures-as-they-are. Of course. Which - from my comfortable seat - is not a disaster. But - were I hungry - I don't know how I would feel about the touting of 3D/MP3 players with changeable skins, as a step toward my salvation. Art

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Re: [Edu-sig] Postmortem of my OSCON talk
by urnerk＠qwest.net Aug. 5, 2005

Aug. 5, 2005

>Again - major disconnect. Worrying about affordability implies we have >already concluded that access to this stuff - in providing good education - >matters much. But who is this "we"? My point is many kids of high school age and younger have already decided they want to be computer virtuosos of one kind or another. Looking at all these geeks slinging laptops, I could think of them as weapons I suppose, but a much better analogy is musical instruments. We're musicians in a way. Indeed, the discipline we call "programming" owes quite a bit to player pianos and other mechanized players. Gibson Guitars is a sponsor of OSCON this year. Big booth, guitars as prizes, awarded on stage. Think of the piano forte, a major piece of technology, and how it's figured in the education process over the last couple centuries. It was a part of the education of elites, often young girls. However, due to access/affordability issues, it was never widespread. But electronics is a very different story. The barriers to entry are much lower. >But I keep thinking we missed a step. Understanding why it matters, and what >of importance we are going to accomplish (and sacrifice) by wiring up to >every school desk. > >Are you concerned about the potential for centralization and >bureaucratization and dehumanization of our schools and education as a >likely outcome of this process. > >Why the hell not? > >Why the hell not? > >Art As I've said before, I don't think there's any stopping this technology tsunami that's upon us (putting it that way makes it sound like a disaster). What we can do is manage and adapt to change, not stop it altogether. I think we're on an evolutionary trajectory that's ultimately about improving living standards around the world, ending death by starvation and yadda yadda. In other words, I'm up beat about this technology's potential. But yes, I do worry about abuse. I worry about weaponization, where we could have had a civilian Renaissance. As a Fuller Schooler, I'm always looking for ways to bring the military on board, such that these ancient hierarchies see a way forward, not a dead end. When people with lots of weapons and training in violence feel cornered, it tends to not be a pretty picture. Kirby -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ .

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Re: [Edu-sig] Postmortem of my OSCON talk
by Arthur Aug. 5, 2005

Aug. 5, 2005

> From: Kirby Urner [mailto:urnerk@qwest.net] > But I think for other reasons (other than the fact this was OSCON) that > the > open source attribute *is* higher than 8 on the list. Because for kids, > affordability is a big variable in the equation, and translates to access. > Waiting for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to bring Windows within > reach may just not be good enough -- the wait is too long. Again - major disconnect. Worrying about affordability implies we have already concluded that access to this stuff - in providing good education - matters much. Gates, the Open Source movement, politicians of various stripes are fighting over credit for providing this access, massively. All hands on deck for a massive redirection of resources (not necessarily $), focus, and energy. But I keep thinking we missed a step. Understanding why it matters, and what of importance we are going to accomplish (and sacrifice) by wiring up to every school desk. Are you concerned about the potential for centralization and bureaucratization and dehumanization of our schools and education as a likely outcome of this process. Why the hell not? Why the hell not? Art

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Re: [Edu-sig] Postmortem of my OSCON talk
by Arthur Aug. 5, 2005

Aug. 5, 2005

> -----Original Message----- > From: Kirby Urner [mailto:urnerk@qwest.net] > > Where might a self-proclaimed intelligent person go to discuss with > other > > such persons 1 through 7, without the diversion of 8? > > > > I'd be open to your listing range(7), i.e. [0,1,2,3,4,5,6]. First let me address number 8, positively. Because I am positive that open source is a significant and important + mark. Barry Warsaw has a blog with one entry: Learning by Breaking http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=5477 Open source software is eminently breakable - and therefore eminently suitable for learning. But the prospect of making this an effective selling point - no matter how saliently true it might be under a particular circumstance - is so daunting as to seem foolhardy. And I keep coming of against that - what seems true seems foolhardy to pursue. So I tend to fall back on an instinct to fight to call a halt to the process in its entirety. Art

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Postmortem of my OSCON talk
by urnerk＠qwest.net Aug. 4, 2005

Aug. 4, 2005

My presentation: I had tech support fiddling with sound during the opening, while I browsed my presentation manager's source code for a minute or two -- didn't get into it as deeply as I'd have liked, but hey, it's on the web. The sound problem was soon solved. Then I launched into the slides, with an interruption at slide 9 to go out on the web and run both Springie and Fluidiom. My general theme: thanks to open source and design science, our school's ability to collaborate has become vastly easier and more effective over the years. I covered a lot of material using a sort of frenetic pin-ball/scatter- gun approach, using the slides as a guide: the nationless Fuller Projection, Rick's dome program, tensegrity, elastic interval geometry, octet truss, sphere packing, quadrays, Grunch of Giants, intellectual property, education reform, making a difference. A bit too manic for my taste (45 minutes isn't much time). The people who came to the table afterwards seemed seriously into learning more, especially with regard to providing kids with a better education. One guy asked what planet I was from. At one point in my talk, I predicted we'd soon have open source repositories of downloadable audio/video clips, which kids'd pull down to their computer desktops, mix with new content, and reupload back to the servers (the same process used with software today, but applied to making video). Schools like ours could harness this economy to foment the production of more relevant educational materials. [ the above is an excerpt from my longer blog entry of today ] -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ .

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From Kirby at OSCON
by urnerk＠qwest.net Aug. 2, 2005

Aug. 2, 2005

Greetings edu-siggers -- I'm posting from OSCON 2005. If you want to watch over my shoulder, my highly personalized angle on events is being chronicled (by me) @ Grain of Sand (my blog). http://worldgame.blogspot.com/ -- good conference so far, though it really starts tomorrow (we're in the tutorial/workshop frame). Kirby -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ .

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