Mailman 3 January 2006 - Edu-sig

Re: [Edu-sig] Europython Monday 3 July to Wednesday 5 July 2006
by Grégoire Dooms Jan. 20, 2006

Jan. 20, 2006

Laura Creighton a écrit : >I would like to know who of you are already planning on >coming, who are thinking of it, and what we can do to get >more python educators and 'the rest of us' to the conference. >I do not know whether it is better to discuss this here or on >the Europython mailing list. > > I have been using Python for 3 years for one of our AI courses at UCLouvain. The software is based on Peter Norvig's AIMA python code, but I've also developped a few puzzles and games for weekly assignments. This course also features an agent development contest where groups of students compete in a championship. I am considering preparing a talk about this experience. All the best, -- Grégoire Dooms

1 0

Europython Monday 3 July to Wednesday 5 July 2006
by Laura Creighton Jan. 20, 2006

Jan. 20, 2006

Ok, now that EuroPython is no longer in my home town in Göteborg, I am more free to organise things around here. (The last 2 years I have been more involved with making sure that everything works ok, in the way that a co-chairman can only be.) This means that I have only done a minimal job of getting US the Europython we want. This year I will have more time. Ok gang, its our conference. We have a budget to invite some people we like ... and Kirby, I already got the word that we want you to come again and explain what you are doing now .... I would like to know who of you are already planning on coming, who are thinking of it, and what we can do to get more python educators and 'the rest of us' to the conference. I do not know whether it is better to discuss this here or on the Europython mailing list. _Here- has the advantage that I get all the people I am interested in, with the disadvantage that I also get those as are not interested. _There_ has the the advantage as we can shame the rest into more and better action, which is competition at its best. Also there is some change I can saddle some of you with work there, and this will add to my prestige as a 'getter of things done'. But overall, I think it is better to stay here for now. If too many non-European edu people complain we can reconsider. Ok gang. It is our conference. Brainstorming time. What would we like? how do we get it? we do not even need to follow the 'tracks and talks' requirement. Whatever we want is on the table for the simple reason we want it. Let the open brainstorming begin. Laura

2 1

Re: [Edu-sig] Europython Monday 3 July to Wednesday 5 July 2006
by Laura Creighton Jan. 20, 2006

Jan. 20, 2006

Awake for over 40 hours, no kidding that I cannot type .... In a message of Fri, 20 Jan 2006 01:43:05 +0100, Laura Creighton writes: >Ok, now that EuroPython is no longer in my home town in Göteborg, I am >This means that I have only done a minimal job of getting US US as in You and Me and everybody else on this list. Not the USA. Not that we _mind_ American visitors, just that was not what I meant when I capitalised 'us'. >the Europython we want. skip >change I can saddle some of you with work there, and this will >add to my prestige as a 'getter of things done'. I guess I really must want some change, but it was CHANCE that I meant to write there. ok, take care all, Laura >

1 0

Some fun curriculum writing (Urner)
by kirby urner Jan. 19, 2006

Jan. 19, 2006

Probably not everyone will find the snippet below as funny as I do. It might help if you've seen Disney's version of 'The Jungle Book' which includes this Kaa character. This is my Kaa impersonation. There's no need to reveal more context, except by way of background, they've invited Alan Kay to be a part of this project. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Kay Here's the snippet: """ PS: from a PR (public relations) standpoint, please be aware that although Python is free and open source, some people find snake imagery unsettling (the Monty Python association is wearing thin with time), plus CP4E or Computer Programming for Everybody has a history of DARPA funding, i.e. there's some funny business with the military that, combined with the snake bit, means a lot of people just feel better about Perl or Ruby. There's nothing I can do about that, really (history is history). I think pairing Python with Squeak is a pretty good idea. """ Kirby

1 1

Re: [Edu-sig] Introduction to object and "dot" notation: feedback wanted
by Peter Bowyer Jan. 19, 2006

Jan. 19, 2006

At 20:28 18/01/2006, Andre Roberge wrote: >Fido.left_front_paw.moves() I have a query about this call. The way the left_front_paw moves is not going to be very different from right_front_paw or the back paws. Now if it's identical, in a simplified model, does not Fido.moves(Fido.left_front_paw) make more sense? It is harder to understand, and I'm not happy with the argument to the method, but it promotes code reuse. Peter -- In the beginning was the word, and the word was Content-type: text/plain.

2 1

Parody text book?
by kirby urner Jan. 19, 2006

Jan. 19, 2006

Did anyone else get asked to review this bogus text book by some company in England? I suspect it's a front for Python's competition, as the survey questions ask for all kinds of intelligence, in exchange for reading a couple tawdry chapters and some measly amount of money. Anyway, I sent it back with negative comments, payment refused. Kirby

5 7

Introduction to object and "dot" notation: feedback wanted
by Andre Roberge Jan. 19, 2006

Jan. 19, 2006

Hi Everyone, I am busy writing lessons for rur-ple (I noticed it's been kindly mentioned here recently) and thought, in spite of the "flack" following the request received by some of you for a book review ;-) , that I would ask for feedback about an introduction I have written to OOP and the "dot" notation. [I am *not* planning to ask feedbacks on all the lessons ;-)] Context 1. The set-up of rur-ple is a world in which a robot can be made to accomplish certain tasks. Initially, the "function-based" approach is used to instruct the robot to do its stuff. For example, a simple program might be as follows: if next_to_a_beeper(): pick_beeper move() turn_off() Context 2. The preceding lessons would have covered python data types, variables, functions, and most python keywords, all used in the context of the robot world or at the interpreter. And now... here's the lesson which you are welcome to trash, criticize, shoot down in flames or ignore! André P.S. html formatting rudely removed from what follows... =================================== __Object-Oriented Programming: "dot" notation__ We are going to learn about a modern programming style called Object-Oriented Programming [OOP]. Before we start writing, we will first learn how to read and understand the notation used. ------------- __All in a dog's day__ Fido is a dog. During a typical day, he does various actions: he eats, runs, sleeps, etc. Here's how an object-oriented programmer might write this. Fido = Dog() Fido.eats() Fido.runs() Fido.sleeps() In addition, Fido has various qualities or attributes. He is tall (for a dog) and his hair is black. Here's how the programmer might write the same things. Fido.size = "tall" Fido.hair_colour = "black" In the object-oriented language, we have the following: = Dog is an example of a class (of objects). = Fido is an instance (or particular object) in the Dog class. = eats(), runs() and sleeps() are methods of the Dog class; 'methods' are essentially like 'functions' which we saw before (the only difference is that they belong in a given class/instance). = size and hair_colour are attributes of a given instance/object = Objects can also have other objects that belong to them, each with their own methods or attributes: Fido.tail.wags() Fido.tail.type = "bushy" Fido.left_front_paw.moves() Fido.head.mouth.teeth.canine.hurt() We'll see how this works later. For now, let's see how Reeborg can use the "dot" notation. -------------- __A used robot get his name__ So far, all the programs we wrote instructing Reeborg to accomplish tasks have been written without using the Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) notation. Let's start with a simple example. First, we start by having an empty world, removing the robot if needed by pressing the add/remove robot button Now, you might remember that RUR in RUR-PLE stands for: Roberge's *Used Robot*; the robots we use are old and faulty. [We will learn how to fix them later.] So, we will create our first instance of the UsedRobot class and name it, appropriately, Reeborg! We will then instruct it to take one step and then turn itself off. Reeborg = UsedRobot() Reeborg.move() Reeborg.turn_off() Try it! ------------------------ __More robots__ Just like functions can have arguments, methods can too. Start with an empty world and try the following: # add robot at origin [by default], but with more interesting colour Larry = UsedRobot(colour='blue') # second robot, default colour (grey) facing North Curly = UsedRobot(1, 3, 'N') # Third robot carries beepers Moe = UsedRobot(1, 2, beepers=9, colour='yellow') .for i in range(3): . Larry.move() . Curly.move() . Moe.move() Curly.turn_left() Larry.move() Curly.move # Turning off any one robot ends the program Moe.turn_off() Robots come in a variety of colours: grey (by default), yellow, blue, light blue, green and purple. They can be positioned anywhere in the world (with more than one robot at the same intersection), face any of the four directions ('E' [by default], 'N', 'S', 'W') or carry a number of beepers from the start. Note that there are two named arguments (beepers and colour) and three unnamed ones (street, avenue and orientation). The two named arguments must appear last (their order may be interchanged); the three unnamed arguments, if they appear, must appear in the same order. Thus, if we want to specify an orientation (say 'N'), we must first specify a street and an avenue so that the orientation is the third argument. The following are allowed declarations: R1 = UsedRobot(2) # created at 2nd street, 1st avenue, facing East R2 = UsedRobot(2, 3) # 2nd street, 3rd avenue, facing East R3 = UsedRobot(3, 1, 'S') # 3rd steet, 1st avenue, facing South R4 = UsedRobot(5, colour='yellow') # 5th street, 1st avenue, facing East The following declarations are not allowed: R5 = UsedRobot(3, 'S') # orientation is not 3rd argument R6 = UsedRobot(colour='yellow', 5) # unnamed argument listed after named one ========= end of lesson ==========

2 2

ANN: upcoming Python course (student/teacher discount)
by w chun Jan. 18, 2006

Jan. 18, 2006

<SPAM> folks, i'm leading another intense introduction to Python here in the San Francisco Bay Area. it will be close to the SF airport, and those traveling will have access to a free shuttle from the airport to the hotel. for those who are local, there is closeby BART and CalTrain access, making it fairly reachable from most parts of the Bay. it's Feb 1-3, 2006, and 9a-5p each day. the course fee is $1095. students, teachers, those with financial hardship, and repeat students will get a 50% discount. see the FAQ for details. feel free to forward this to anyone you know who may be interested. there are 9-10 more seats left in the class. a follow-on advanced course is coming in May 2006. also hope to see some of you at PyCon. more info available at http://cyberwebconsulting.com ... this is the only time you will get this announcement from me. thanks, -wesley </SPAM>

1 0

Python Powertoy ;)
by Arthur Jan. 15, 2006

Jan. 15, 2006

The relevance is a little Microsoft bashing which I think is always useful in the context of education, and some "why learn to program" from a personal frame of reference. The motive is really just some show-and-tell. Trying to finalize a website for a PyGeo release I had decided that I would rather show some sequences of Povray rendering of PyGeo animations as sequence of stills than as an animated gif. Google on "html slideshow" and find that a "HTML Slide Show Wizard" is among the WindowsXP "powertoys" at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx The wizard is just that - and one lives with its output - backgrounds, arrow placements, etc.. And what it is doing is so simplistic that it is quite funny that it would be among the "powertoys". But Microsoft counts on a certain kind of audience for its wizardry. Attached is a small Python script with more functionality than the XP powertoy. Sample of slideshow is at: http://pygeo.sourceforge.net/slideshows/multiply_html/1.html Whether the slideshow idea works for this purpose being another matter. Art . import os import string import glob import shutil #location of images, relative to current directory currentimages='multiply' #html output directory, absolute path htmldir = 'c:\\PyGeoSite\\slideshows\\multiply_html' #images destination directory relative to html directory imagedest = 'images' #images extensions imageext = 'png' #background color background = '#FFFFFF' #arrow image names - ordered "<" (previous) and ">" (next) arrows=["prev.gif","next.gif"] #location of arrow images directory relative to current directory arrowsource='images' try: os.mkdir(htmldir) except OSError: pass try: os.mkdir(os.path.join(htmldir,imagedest)) except OSError: pass imagepath=os.path.join(htmldir,imagedest) arrowprev=imagedest + "/" + arrows[0] arrownext=imagedest + "/" + arrows[1] imagefiles = glob.glob(os.path.join(currentimages,"*.%s" %imageext)) totimages = len(imagefiles) i=1 for file in imagefiles: if i == 1: prev = totimages else: prev= i-1 if i == totimages: next = 1 else: next = i + 1 filename=string.split(file,os.sep)[-1] source = imagedest + "/" + filename shutil.copy(file,imagepath) html = """ <html> <body bgcolor="%s"> <br> <br> <center> <img src="%s"> </center> <br> <center> <a href="%i.html"><img border=0 align=center src="%s"></a> <a href="%i.html"><img border=0 align=center src="%s"></a> </center> </body> </html> """ %(background,source,prev,arrowprev,next,arrownext) f=open(os.path.join(htmldir,str(i)+".html"),'w') f.write(html) f.close() i+=1 for arrow in arrows: shutil.copy(os.path.join(arrowsource,arrow),imagepath)

1 0

More from Portland
by kirby urner Jan. 10, 2006

Jan. 10, 2006

I've found younger kids especially (13ish) like the Madlib motif, i.e. fill-in-the-blanks stories. In today's lesson @ Winterhaven, I had kids enter the code below, helped with debugging (I had about 30, each with a Win2000 box), then suggested they come up with more imaginative stories of their own (by changing the code). One student was quite creative with the dictionary keys, putting in things like 'Noun ending in er' (the keys double as prompts in raw_input). On another front, Winterhaven is happy enough with how this beta is going, and gave me a Moodle account to develop local teaching materials. This will assist in the process of spreading Python to other public schools in the area. Plus sometimes we have kids author content, e.g. some of the Moodle-based HTML teaching is actually done by students. The worksheet that went with the code below also got into the 'if __name__ == '__main__': option, for when you want to run at the command line, or in IDLE simply by pressing F5. Until today, we've always imported everything in the IDLE shell. Per my blog entry of earlier today, Oregon is launching some new education initiatives. My Oregon Curriculum Network is well positioned to make some of our dreams come true (plus I'm pretty good at frustrating some of the nightmares others-who-shall-remain-nameless might find it convenient to capitalize on). Kirby """ Worksheet: substituting strings """ story = """ Once upon a time, deep in an ancient jungle, there lived a %(animal)s. This %(animal)s liked to eat %(food)s, but the jungle had very little %(food)s to offer. One day, an explorer found the %(animal)s and discovered it liked %(food)s. The explorer took the %(animal)s back to %(city)s, where it could eat as much %(food)s as it wanted. However, the %(animal)s became homesick, so the explorer brought it back to the jungle, leaving a large supply of %(food)s. The End """ thewords = ['animal', 'food', 'city'] userpicks = {} def tellstory(): """ loop through thewords and get user choices in a dictionary named userpicks, then substitute userpicks into the story """ for word in thewords: userpicks[word] = raw_input("Enter a value for %s: " % word) print story % userpicks

1 0