Mailman 3 September 2006 - Edu-sig

Re: [Edu-sig] The fate of raw_input() in Python 3000
by Peter Bowyer Sept. 20, 2006

Sept. 20, 2006

[send this to Kirby rather than the list...] At 22:27 08/09/2006, Kirby Urner wrote: >Just to clarify: I think it *is* condescending to newbies to force >them through a lot of raw_input scripts, since this is: I felt exactly the same when I took the introductory programming course for scientists. DOS prompts with odd calculations popping up (this was using C). Looking back, the problem wasn't the raw_input style, but because *there was no progression*. The teaching material did not link everything together so that at the end of the 10 week course you had a large application which you'd built on every week. Instead you had a pile of useless scripts all totally separate giving no idea that software you could write might be useful rather than just boring. Peter -- Maple Design - quality web design and programming http://www.mapledesign.co.uk

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Python class at Foothill College
by Elaine Sept. 17, 2006

Sept. 17, 2006

If you would like to learn Python, Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, CA is offering a course starting Mon. evening, 25 Sept. The course is designed for students who are already familiar with some type of programming. Here is the course description: CIS 68K "INTRODUCTION TO PYTHON PROGRAMMING" 5 Units This course will introduce students to the Python language and environment. Python is a portable, interpreted, object-oriented programming language that is often compared to Perl, Java, Scheme and Tcl. The language has an elegant syntax, dynamic typing, and a small number of powerful, high-level data types. It also has modules, classes, and exceptions. The modules provide interfaces to many system calls and libraries, as well as to various windowing systems(X11, Motif, Tk, Mac, MFC). New built-in modules are easily written in C or C++. Such extension modules can define new functions and variables as well as new object types. Four hours lecture, four hours terminal time. If you would like to sign up for the class, please register beforehand by going to: http://www.foothill.fhda.edu/reg/index.php If you have questions, you can contact the instructor at: haightElaine(a)foothill.edu Thanks! -Elaine Haight __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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wikibooks
by Hugh Stewart Sept. 17, 2006

Sept. 17, 2006

Hi All, The following site maybe of interest: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:Computing_department Hugh

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Wikimania 2006>> please stop squabbling now and listen up !!!
by Jason Cunliffe Sept. 16, 2006

Sept. 16, 2006

Jimbo Wales keynote http://www.supload.com/listen?s=SI0OG2vN04i Lawrence Lessig http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1926631993376203020&hl=en "..the 20th century was very wierd" Wikimania 2006 Archives [Mp3s Google videos ++] http://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org/wiki/Archives have a good weekend Jason

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ANN: pyfuzzylib 0.1.3 Released
by nelson - Sept. 16, 2006

Sept. 16, 2006

PyFuzzyLib is a library for fuzzy inference engine building. Using pyfuzzylib you can add fuzzy logic to your programs. The program is in it early stage of development, but it is still usable. Every sort of feedback is appreciated! the project homepage is http://sourceforge.net/projects/pyfuzzylib good afternoon, nelson

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Re: [Edu-sig] Ramanujan's Pi (an exercise with generator & decimal features)
by kirby urner Sept. 15, 2006

Sept. 15, 2006

Enroute to my iPod. More soon. Kirby On 9/14/06, Mark Engelberg <mark.engelberg(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Somewhat off-topic, last year I was reading a book about Ramanujan, > and was so inspired by his brilliance and life story, that I wrote a > song about it. Supremely geeky, I know, but in case anyone's curious > to hear it, check out: > > http://www.archive.org/details/Ramanujan > > --Mark

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BASIC?
by Joshua Zucker Sept. 15, 2006

Sept. 15, 2006

Some ad-viewing required, but David Brin is a good author and it's worth reading. The topic: A quest for a computer that can run BASIC. I'm sure we can come up with a good reply to this one! http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2006/09/14/basic/index_np.html Or, if you don't want to view the ads, here's a copy already posted to another discussion group. http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?forumID=187&threadID=1449192&messageID=… Enjoy, --Joshua Zucker

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Re: [Edu-sig] The fate of raw_input() in Python 3000
by John Posner Sept. 15, 2006

Sept. 15, 2006

My apologies if someone else has already pointed out this difference between sys.stdin.readline() and raw_input(): they return different strings. >>> a = sys.stdin.readline() spam >>> b = raw_input() spam >>> a 'spam\n' >>> b 'spam' IMHO, that trailing NL character ... (1) ... indicates the fact that these two functions were really designed for different purposes: getting data from a file vs. getting data interactively from a person. (2) ... would impose yet another trap for beginning users to fall into. ("Teacher, I typed in 'Richard', but Python doesn't seem to think I did.") Sure, we can try to sell strip() to the student, but I wouldn't blame him/her for suspecting that Python is so dumb that it doesn't distinguish between the content of a message and the gesture than ends the message. -John Posner

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GYOML - Grow Your Oen Media lab
by Jason Cunliffe Sept. 15, 2006

Sept. 15, 2006

http://www.folly.co.uk/?q=node/143

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BASIC?
by Kevin Driscoll Sept. 15, 2006

Sept. 15, 2006

> There's been no loss or leakage of any kind from an engineering point > of view. What leaked away, apparently, was any brains in the math > teaching sector. Mostly bozos over there. The PCjr shipped with beautiful fold-out schematics of every part. It booted into cartridge BASIC. Did the Macintosh ship with Hypercard? I believe that even Windows 98 shipped with QBasic and a copy of gorilla.bas. A Dell desktop in 2006 comes without any programming tools. (Unless DOS batch support counts.) There are more free tools available online than ever but it seems that PC design continues to move toward appliance status. (See: Trusted Computing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_computing ) I consider that a loss! Kevin

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