Mailman 3 February 2007 - Edu-sig

Python Bridge for Breve
by Tom Hoffman Feb. 19, 2007

Feb. 19, 2007

While trying to learn how to use the Breve templating language, I noticed that you can now use Python code in the Breve 3-d simulation environment, which I'd found to be attractive and impressive on my Mac a few years ago, but doesn't want to work on my laptop running Ubuntu today. see http://www.spiderland.org/node/3246 --Tom

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Opencourseware: Perfect Numbers with Generators
by kirby urner Feb. 19, 2007

Feb. 19, 2007

Author: Kirby Urner Subjects: CS0, Pythonic Mathematics, Python for Math Teachers Originating Academy: Saturday Academy (saturdayacademy.org) Originating Course: Pythonic Mathematics: from Fibonaccis to Fractals Major Reference: http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/perfectnumbers.html """ Sequence generator expressions Usage (one of many): >>> from euclidix36 import mersennes, perfects >>> perfects.next() 6 >>> perfects.next() 28 >>> perfects.next() 496 >>> perfects.next() 8128 >>> perfects.next() 33550336 >>> mersennes.next() 131071 >>> mersennes.next() 524287 >>> mersennes.next() 2147483647L """ # http://www.research.att.com/~njas/sequences/A000043 mersennep = [2, 3, 5, 7, 13, 17, 19, 31, 61, 89, 107, 127, 521, 607, 1279, 2203, 2281, 3217, 4253, 4423, 9689, 9941, 11213, 19937, 21701, 23209, 44497, 86243, 110503, 132049, 216091, 756839, 859433, 1257787, 1398269, 2976221, 3021377, 6972593, 13466917] # ... # http://www.research.att.com/~njas/sequences/A000668 mersennes = (pow(2,p) - 1 for p in mersennep ) # http://www.research.att.com/~njas/sequences/A000396 perfects = (m*(m+1)//2 for m in mersennes) """ For discussion: Explain why mersennes.next() doesn't return the first Mersenne prime, when used after three invocations of the perfects generator expression (see Usage above). Answer: because the perfects generator expression has already advanced the mersennes generator. Is the converse of Euclid's IX:36 true, i.e. if a number is perfect, then is it necessarily some Mth triangular number, where M is a Mersenne prime? Answer: only if the perfect number is even. It's not yet known if any perfects are odd: http://primes.utm.edu/mersenne/index.html http://mathworld.wolfram.com/OddPerfectNumber.html """

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design pattern with data
by kirby urner Feb. 15, 2007

Feb. 15, 2007

In the source code below, almost all that's special about subclasses is their respective data, which are initialized from globals. Both the constructor and self representer (a VPython draw, not a __repr__ in this case) are inherited from a Tetrahedron superclass. http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/python/quantamods.py How might this be useful in a math learning context? There's a quickie conversion going on, twixt two coordinate systems, with one vector's .xyz attribute an argument to the next vector's initializer. That'd be one thing to focus on (object translation). Caveats: I'm using arguments provided by a collaborator. Although I've got a lot of faith in 'em, I'm just taking 'em as given (assumed true). The output is visual (VPython) and to my eye the results were quite believable. However, in pure Chakovians, with (1,0,0,0)(0,1,0,0)(0,0,1,0) and (0,0,0,1) as my four vertices, I'd be sorely tempted to anchor my A modules (+/-) as at least two of those 24. On the other hand, I'm also quite focused on the Coupler as 8 MITEs meeting at the origin (0,0,0,0) with As and Bs permuting accordingly (lots of ways to go). Sorry about all the jargon, for those not trained in slogging through this namespace. I call it "gnu math" and teach it with Python. Kirby

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Translation of video "Introducing python" to spanish
by Igor TAmara Feb. 15, 2007

Feb. 15, 2007

Spanish version of message at the bottom - Versión en español al final Hi, this is to let you know that the translation[1] of the "Introducing python" video has just been reviewed, it was done by the students[2] of Gimnasio Fidel Cano[3](High School) located at Bogotá, we hope it can be useful for spanish-speaking people. 1.https://www.gfc.edu.co/traduccion/TradVideoPython/Complete 2 .https://www.gfc.edu.co/traduccion/AsignacionTranscripcionyTraduccionVideoModalidadOnce 3.http://www.gfc.edu.co/ We started using python three years ago and are really happy about using it, because the students can focus more on solving and creating than bothered with compiling and understanding of things that usually distract them and don't let them see quick results. The students have published some work done using wxwindows and zope[4],[5],[6] 4.http://www.gfc.edu.co/colegio/proyectos/spt/2004/index.php 5.http://www.gfc.edu.co/colegio/proyectos/spt/2005/index.php 6.http://www.gfc.edu.co/colegio/proyectos/spt/2006/index.php We do know that putting the subtitles to the video is another task and we don't know if there is libre software available out there to do that on linux Debian, the operating system we use. Greetings... --------------------------------- Hola, hemos publicado una traducción[1] del video "Introducing python" revisada, fue hecha por estudiantes[2] del Gimnasio Fidel Cano[3] en Bogotá, esperamos que pueda ser de utilidad para los hispanoparlantes. 1.https://www.gfc.edu.co/traduccion/TradVideoPython/Complete 2 .https://www.gfc.edu.co/traduccion/AsignacionTranscripcionyTraduccionVideoModalidadOnce 3.http://www.gfc.edu.co/ Comenzamos a usar python hace 3 años y estamos muy contentos con él, porque los estudiantes pueden enfocarse en resolver y crear en lugar de molestarse con procesos de compilación o entender cosas que usualmente los distraen y no les permiten ver resultados rápidos. Los estudiantes han publicado algunos trabajos hechos con ayuda de librería wxwindows y zope. 4.http://www.gfc.edu.co/colegio/proyectos/spt/2004/index.php 5.http://www.gfc.edu.co/colegio/proyectos/spt/2005/index.php 6.http://www.gfc.edu.co/colegio/proyectos/spt/2006/index.php Sabemos que colocar subtítulos al video es otra tarea y no sabemos si hay software libre para hacerlo en linux(Debian) el sistema operativo que utilizamos. Saludos... -- --- http://igor.tamarapatino.org

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Python outside computer science
by Rob Malouf Feb. 15, 2007

Feb. 15, 2007

To turn things in a more constructive direction, let me start what I hope will be a new discussion... Most of what goes on on this list takes as a starting point that the primary goal is to teach Python programming, or programming in general, or computer science, or something in that vein. I'm sure there are a lot of people in my position, though, who use Python in teaching but aren't really teaching Python. I teach linguistics, and everything I cover in class is must serve the overall goal of educating linguists. Python is a useful tool, but that's all it is (for us), and it's just one of many tools we use. Given limited class time, I'm afraid that if I have to choose between either including something that will make my students better linguists or will make them better programmers, programming will lose. I guess you could say that in class we use Python like physical scientists use Matlab -- more as an application than as a programming language. Python is widely used in traditionally non-computational fields (linguistics, biology, geography), so I'm sure there's a sizeable community of people who use Python in this way. So, if any of you are out there... what have you found works well? What doesn't? What textbooks do you use (if any)? I find that most of the standard intro Python texts aren't suitable for me. Zelle's book, for instance, is great in a lot of respects, but it's got too much emphasis on graphics for me to use it. Not that that stuff isn't interesting and useful, it's just that it would be too much of a detour from my primary learning objectives. I've been using Gauld's book, but the student's don't seem enthusiastic about it. What books are the biologists using? Another thing I'm wondering about is how multi-course sequences are set up. Here at SDSU our computational linguistics M.A. program nominally takes four semesters, three semesters of coursework and one semester of thesis writing. We've got a lot of specialized material to cover in that time. Plus, students often come in with zero background in computation or math (or, often, linguistics), so we've got a fair bit of remedial work to do to get them up to speed. And, to make things even more complicated, non-specialists also take computational linguistics courses, so it's not unusual for me to have, say, a high school English teacher going for a multi-cultural education certificate in my one of my classes. In fact, I depend on that happening to meet my minimum enrollment numbers, which means I can't afford to drive off potential students who don't really want to spend a term learning to program (not that they're *afraid* of programming, just that that's not what they choose to spend 15 weeks of their life doing). So, given the constraints, the way we've structured things involves very little time devoted purely to teaching Python or programming. I spend maybe a third of a term on Python in the first semester in a course that covers a lot of other computational tools and methods. Then throughout the more advanced courses we sneak in Python concepts here and there, as needed to address problems that come up, so by the end of two years the hope is students will have absorbed enough programming knowledge for them to get a job. Of course, the alternative is just to take a semester out at the beginning and devote it to teaching Python, before we move on to the linguistics. We could possibly join forces with other Pythonic departments on campus to solve the minimum enrollment problems, though that mean some of the more advanced material would have to be cut from the end of the sequence to make it fit in three semesters. How do other non-CS computational programs work? What are some of your experiences? --- Rob Malouf <rmalouf(a)mail.sdsu.edu> Department of Linguistics and Asian/Middle Eastern Languages San Diego State University

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Re: [Edu-sig] Python outside computer science
by kirby urner Feb. 13, 2007

Feb. 13, 2007

On 2/13/07, Peter Bowyer <peter(a)mapledesign.co.uk> wrote: > > At 06:46 13/02/2007, kirby urner wrote: > >Flash forward: have you seen O'Reilly's 'Head First' series and > >its use of icons, sidebars, jokes, diagrams, different type faces, > >more icons? Way more "right brained" than traditional CS books, > >by a long shot, but just as technical and deep (into Java mostly). > >We've asked Tim about a "Head First" about Python, but the > >word back, at least then, was we had too small a footprint as > >a nation (he has these publisher maps he projects at OSCON) > >to merit such a sophisticated and expensive undertaking. We > >all still dream of it though. > > Is there anything to stop us/someone copying this style of book, and > producing one for Python? > > Peter No nothing, and I think 'Head First' is a trend setter. But of course we of the OSCON tribe would feel glad if the O'Reilly name were on the cover, means we still matter on maps that we care about. A cheap rip off wouldn't feel so good. Not that those are the only two alternatives. Multimedia publishing is no one's monopoly, and many publishers besides O'Reilly already have promising track records with Pythonic titles (though I don't really like the ones that overpad with the very same XML poopka, regardless of language, just to thicken the books, make 'em appear meaty. 'Python in a Nutshell' is at the other end of the spectrum, somewhat thick, but spare, lean and clean. It's not a teaching text though, so much as a reference). Myself, I'm focusing on the anime we want around Python, like a cartoon snake slithering into view showing off __rib__ syntax, going in to split screen views with source code in a stepper, coupled with animal behavior in some 4D++ environment (e.g. Panda 3D). On the one hand, source code, on the other hand, Sims. What we'll be sharing with adults, not just children, under the CP4E banner. To this end, I've voluntarily sunk a lot of my after tax time and energy into startup think tanks, such as Wanderers and the Portland Knowledge Lab (the latter named after a London version I visited last April, stole the idea from (hi Phillip)). Another thread we've shared here on edu-sig is around "rich data structures." I don't know how much need you'd have for 100 nouns and/or verbs in a lookup table, columns being the different human languages, but I'd think there'd be similar wheels you'd not want to have to reinvent, over and over. Do you use any SQL? College professors, banding together on open source principles (already deeply engrained in the culture, as scholarship ethics), oughta be able to divvy the labor and build up a relevant stash of Pythonic data sets pronto, in whatever the science and/or humanity. Just having the planets, with their distances from the Sun, relative radii, in a freely downloadable Python dictionary of tuples say, would be a boon to middle schools across the land. That data could be bundled with such as my orbits.py, to generate VPython animations. http://www.4dsolutions.net/cgi-bin/py2html.cgi?script=/ocn/python/orbits.py A final relevant thread I can think of, is 'suMerian', a mnemonic for how the antiquities have made it still cool to learn so-called "dead languages" (a basis for promotion). Computer science is a relatively new discipline, compared to teaching ancient Greek or Latin or whatever, but has this emerging challenge of either needing to groom future generations of so-called "dead language" programmers, OR try to tell industry why it should pay to have perfectly good source code rewritten, simply because no one teaches M any more (hence the capital M in 'suMerian'). Put another way, there's still a market for FORTRAN coders, even FORTRAN compiler optimizers. I've schmoozed with such people at OSCON, know they exist in the flesh. Kirby

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Re: [Edu-sig] Python outside computer science
by Laura Creighton Feb. 13, 2007

Feb. 13, 2007

In a message of Mon, 12 Feb 2007 21:31:09 PST, Rob Malouf writes: >To turn things in a more constructive direction, let me start what I >hope will be a new discussion... <snip> >[...] What books are the biologists using? Andrew Dalke has been writing his own course materials for teaching python to biologists and biochemists in South Africa (and maybe other places too, I forget about that.) He is dalke(a)dalkescientific.com and would probably send you all his stuff if you asked him nicely. We sat up at my house one night trying to figure out what would be the best way to introduce python and ended up with 'string processing' -- or language processing in general. So 'check to see if your name is in a file --- to check the long form of your name. What if the first and last name are on different lines of the file? -- What if your name is misspelled? things like that to make the lessons grow harder. Then you move to extracting useful things from web pages. Relevant things like: 'Have the tickets for the Bruce Springsteen concert gone on sale yet?' :-) Then you get to 'here is a string that represents a protein' -- and so on to a problem domain that the students are familiar with. This, by the way, is for the students that don't know how to program. When Andrew is dealing with people who already do 'how to set up a turbo gears sever' and how to integrate 'this mess we have over here' with 'that mess some other folks have over there' is standard. And I am doing all of this from memory, and my memory of him telling me how it went, rather than having been there myself, so I probably have some of the details wrong. Drop him a line; he's very friendly. Laura

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Re: [Edu-sig] Python outside computer science
by Peter Bowyer Feb. 13, 2007

Feb. 13, 2007

At 06:46 13/02/2007, kirby urner wrote: >Flash forward: have you seen O'Reilly's 'Head First' series and >its use of icons, sidebars, jokes, diagrams, different type faces, >more icons? Way more "right brained" than traditional CS books, >by a long shot, but just as technical and deep (into Java mostly). >We've asked Tim about a "Head First" about Python, but the >word back, at least then, was we had too small a footprint as >a nation (he has these publisher maps he projects at OSCON) >to merit such a sophisticated and expensive undertaking. We >all still dream of it though. Is there anything to stop us/someone copying this style of book, and producing one for Python? Peter -- Maple Design - Web design and application development http://www.mapledesign.co.uk +44 (0)845 123 8008

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Re: [Edu-sig] Edu-sig Digest, Vol 43, Issue 20
by surafel teshome Feb. 13, 2007

Feb. 13, 2007

thanks a lot for your lecture. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Bored stiff? Loosen up... Download and play hundreds of games for free on Yahoo! Games. http://games.yahoo.com/games/front

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More on graphics with graphics.py (Zelle's)
by kirby urner Feb. 13, 2007

Feb. 13, 2007

Some of you old timers may recall a project in May, 2004 to implement Wolfram's minimalist cellular automaton experiments using a Tk canvas and/or PIL. As I recall, John showed us how to speed it up a whole lot by passing some 'False' parameter in the GraphWin call. However, now that I'm testing the code, in preparation for this post, lo these many years later (on a faster computer in a different version of Python (2.5)), and with a newly downloaded graphics.py, I'm seeing those rows of the Mayan Pyramid, associated with Wolfram's "Rule 30" [1], run across the screen like some raster beam on an ultra slow TV. http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/2004-May/003866.html In any case, the code isn't all the beautiful, could be streamlined, but consists of nks.py atop two possible Canvas objects, one in Tk, one in PIL (Python's Imaging Library -- could be a jpeg). http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/python/nks.py <-- Wolfram's rules 0-255 (computed) http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/python/canvas1.py <- PIL canvas http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/python/canvas2.py <- Tk canvas Kirby PS: I haven't tested the PIL version for 2.5 yet, seein' as all the recent traffic has been about using Tk. PPS: this code isn't procedural though, may not be suitable for CS0 within the United States (a math phobic distopia, except in patches) [1] http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Rule30.html

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