Mailman 3 April 2007 - Edu-sig

Python for Halloween
by kirby urner 21 Oct '07

21 Oct '07

Something about using 'ghost' in place of 'self' in a Shell class (allusion to anime as well). Maybe I did something like this last year (having deja vu again). But I'm realizing edu-sig is no longer a preferred venue for my curriculum writing. I'd rather huddle with MIT, Bruce Sherwood, Alan Kay and play *against* Arthur's team. Arthur, you make too many enemies too quickly and too easily. Even more, I'm into my Portland Knowledge Lab (PKL) business (gotta pay that rent today) and want to make lots of Python and Synergetics teaching cartoons for HDTV (my Saturday Morning meme), with lots of brand name sponsors. But here is not the place to brainstorm in safety. Too many prying eyes and self-appointed kibbitzers. So I'm actually resigning this time. Don't expect me back any time soon. Probably won't be tracking either, at least not with any frequency. For me, it's a tilt towards private lists and closed source development (not exclusively -- I'm still a big supporter of a strong public sector). I'm learning why open source is a bad idea sometimes. I've talked to Stallman about this, though he probably doesn't remember -- I was in his audience in Portland and asked about situations when "they" simply *don't deserve* your best code. But I think more it's a matter of not wanting to show unfinished work (a big no no in Fuller's self discipline, according to 'Critical Path' I think it was). Kirby

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OLPC: $175 and Windows capable
by kirby urner 30 Apr '07

30 Apr '07

In Slashdot this AM: http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/28/0658206 I'm not surprised the hardware'll be Windows-capable, as the low price of $179.99 derives from using standard mass market laptop designs already in circulation, (with a few new wrinkles) such that *any* OS worth anything should be able to target it (and Windows is worth *something* no?). The question 'is Linux in trouble?' is of course entirely rhetorical and it's not. The students I'm working with already have a well developed hacker ethic: if the source is closed, it's "for dummies" (meant pejoratively, like in the movie 'Idiocracy'). Geeks of tomorrow use what geeks of today use: intelligent stuff. But sure, let the dumb kids in the USA use their stoopid Microsoft. We all know the USA is at least five years behind when it comes to teaching math and science, so why not computers as well? Kirby

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Pythonic Math: notes re today's experience
by kirby urner 29 Apr '07

29 Apr '07

So I showed up to a locked room, hefting my own speakers, laptop, other props, with parents/students queuing in the hallway. Security showed shortly and opened the lab. Setup took longer without the help I got last week, but the training had been adequate and we managed to project 'Revolution OS' excerpts, Python source. The picture was none too bright though. Next week I'll bring the partnership's Optoma and stop using PSU's math department's bulb time. Forgetting the trick for connecting to the Internet for the moment (I later remembered), I had to talk my students through where to find viztoyz without projecting, which turned out to be right here in this mailing list archive, accessed via python.org | community | sigs | edu-sig. Then they also needed stickworks from 4dsolutions.net | ocn | python, where ocn is my Oregon Curriculum Network (in operation for many years by now, its content a feature at three OSCONs, a EuroPython, a Pycon, a LinuxFest in Bellingham, Washington, many other events (I'm something of a "known quantity" on the Python circuit by now, try to fight typecasting by always changing my act)). These two Python modules, plus visual (VPython.org) = a fun framework for playing with OpenGL. A major theme of this course: We have these two kinds of engine: (A) the "real time" on-the-fly graphical engine, designed to be interactive with users, like in computer games and some simulations (operating systems are another good example of a "real time responsive" type engine) (B) the "faux time" ray tracing engine, maybe slaved on a render farm (maybe standalone on your desk), not operating in real time but generating each frame very slowly, with painstaking attention to every ray of light. These frames then string together for projection at real action speeds, providing a far higher degree of real or surrealism in the final result than most games. The difference between (A) and (B) accounts for the lower apparent resolution of computer games, even higher end ones, next to the production values in movies like 'Cars', 'Over The Hedge' and/or 'Shrek' for example. Valve addressed a different set of problems with the Half Life 2 engine, Id with the Doom and Quake engines, than the set of problems addressed by a render farm slave at ILM or Weta. So I'm using VPython to stand in for an (A) type engine, a wrapper around OpenGL (DirectX being another famous engine), and POV-Ray to stand for a (B) type engine. Python harnesses both in this model, is a paradigm Controller in an MVC setup, with OpenGL and/or POV-Ray providing the views. The models might literally be Polyhedra, expressed mainly as data structures (faces as lists of vectors for example). In this Saturday Academy course, students get positive reinforcement for learning linear algebra's vector mathematics in the context of working out on two kinds of graphical engine, but with one lexical API in common, our expressive snake language. Eyeballing viztoyz, several students immediately seized on color as something they could get a handle on. This led to an exploration of the VPython documentation online, to assigning (r, g, b) 3-tuples, which one student wanted to generate randomly as well, as in def randcolor(): return tupe( [ 0.01 * randint(0,100) for i in range(3)] ) or whatever. The size of the "XYZ water tank" was another parameter. Or the number of spheres, the number of cylinders. Start with simple tweaks. Get down your import/reload reflexes in IDLE. Yes, sometimes we need to kill our shell, maybe Ctrl-Alt-Del to the task manager, hunt for ghost snakes under processes. Not saying it'd be just the same in a Linux lab. YMMV. Anyway their regular math teachers should be happy. This is very traditional stuff that we're pushing. Yet having a lexical computer language talking to graphical engines (sound engines ahead) makes a really huge difference. We give students a more motivating context in gnu math -- assuming for example that they might want to someday work in Portland's emerging ToonTown economy (quite a live possibility for students living around here). I'm thinking this approach is likely to catch on in places other than just China. Kirby

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WebLab: please have a look!
by Andre Roberge 28 Apr '07

28 Apr '07

A while ago, Yusdi Santoso made an announcement to this list about a new browser-based interface to matplotlib, called WebLab, intended to be a free replacement to Matlab. Since that original announcement, there have been quite a few improvements made to WebLab; in addition, WebLab is no longer restricted to run under Windows XP like it was when the original announcement was made. I am not all that familiar with matplotlib but, for having tried briefly WebLab, I am most impressed. I would encourage anyone interested in producing high quality graphics using a free Python based tool, as well as science instructors who have students that need to produce graphs, to have a look at WebLab. It can be found here: http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/users/santoso/Software.WebLab.html André

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A testing framework for new students of VPython
by kirby urner 28 Apr '07

28 Apr '07

""" Here's the kind of thing I'm using with my middle and high schoolers in class tomorrow, to help 'em get their feet wet with Python + VPython. Students have already slogged through Dog and Monkey as subclasses of Mammal before getting here. We replace Mammal with Vector, conceptually, and talk more about vectors as 'math objects' with a graphical representation, not just a lexical one. In stickworks.py, said Vector class is tail originating at (0,0,0), but we're able to edge-connect any two vector tips with an Edge. We use IDLE to import and run test(), with no need to close the VPython window between loops. The boilerplate the follows suggests easy extension to other VPython primitives, i.e. provides a sandbox and just enough sand for beginning coders to copy and/or elaborate upon. """ # ==== viztoyz.py ===== """ Kirby Urner 4D Solutions Apr 27 2007 Simple framework for studying VPython primitives plus an imported Vector & Edge, wrapper classes from my stickworks.py http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/stickworks.html """ from visual import sphere, color, display, cylinder from random import randint from stickworks import Vector, Edge red = color.red green = color.green blue = color.blue def makespheres(n=100): for i in range(n): # a loop x, y, z = randint(-10, 10), randint(-10,10), randint(-10,10) theball = sphere(pos=(x,y,z), # linebreak OK cuz within ( ) radius = 0.1 * randint(1,5), color = [red, blue, green][randint(0,2)]) def makecyls(n=100): for i in range(n): # a loop x, y, z = randint(-10, 10), randint(-10,10), randint(-10,10) thecyl = cylinder(pos=(0,0,0), axis=(x,y,z), radius = 0.1 * randint(1,5), # decimalize color = [red, blue, green][randint(0,2)]) def maketent(): """ Imagine a cube centered at the origin and with a positive octant vertex at (1,1,1). Inscribe a regular tetrahedron as six face diagonals therein. """ # 4 vertices a = Vector((-1, -1, 1)) b = Vector((-1, 1, -1)) c = Vector((1, 1, 1)) d = Vector((1, -1, -1)) # 6 edges tetrahedron = [Edge(a,b), Edge(b,c), Edge(c,d), Edge(a,c), Edge(a,d), Edge(b,d)] for e in tetrahedron: e.draw() def sometest(): pass def test(): # create a scene window scene2 = display(title='Some VPython Tests', width=600, height=600, center=(0,0,0), background=(0,1,1)) """list the functions""" thetests = [ makespheres, # balloon qyoob makecyls, # silly cyls maketent, # tetra tent sometest] # user defined, could be any number while True: print """ Choose: 0 Balloon Qyoob 1 Silly Cyls 2 Tetra Tent 3 ... your test goes here Q Outta here! """ ans = raw_input('Choice? ') if ans in 'Qq': break # trap more errors here thetests[int(ans)]() # perform user selection (or crash?) print "View output, hit Enter to continue..." # pause to look in the VPython window ok = raw_input() for obj in scene2.objects: # erase all objects obj.visible = False # outta here scene2.visible = False # destroy the scene window return # null

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Python for Wanderers...
by kirby urner 27 Apr '07

27 Apr '07

I've been experimenting with teaching two classes in parallel: (1) for middle and high schoolers, a Pythonic Math class @ PSU: http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2007/04/class-notes-session-one.html (2) for adults, some with coding experience but none with much Python so far: http://controlroom.blogspot.com/2007/04/wanderers-2007417.html You'll see in the follow-up section of link (2) above that I'm adding links for Classes 0-3 as time goes on. So if you're curious, pop Class 0 and read about last night's first formal meeting of our 4-session Python for Wanderers (it's a legal py file, but mostly comments in green). Wanderers meet in the boyhood home of 2x Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling, walking distance from my house in the Hawthorne District of Portland. The name Wanderers comes from this quote: "Science would be ruined if it were to withdraw entirely into narrowly defined specialties. The rare scholars who are wanderers-by-choice are essential to the intellectual welfare of the settled disciplines." -- Benoit Mandelbrot http://wwwanderers.org/ My students last night included: Allen Taylor, author of 'SQL for Dummies' Glenn Stockton, former NSA cryptanalyst, Global Matrix [tm] avatar Bill Sheppard, electronics engineer, inventor of not-a-theramin Don Wardwell, boat captain, retired Mt Hood Community College faculty David Tver, wandering mathematician I'm hoping Derek (friend and neighbor) makes some of the next ones. I'm using a non-linear approach that shouldn't overly penalize those who can't make all four sessions. I'm wondering if I might recruit Kevin Altis and/or Robin Dunn to do a wxPython/HyperCard demo for the grand finale. Kirby

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An OOP view of the "number" concept
by kirby urner 22 Apr '07

22 Apr '07

Forwarding from Math Forum: more on how I think it pays students nowadays to look at numbers differently, now that they're consistently implemented as instances of a type which includes methods and attributes per OOP. Context: http://mathforum.org/kb/message.jspa?messageID=5657989&tstart=0 Kirby ==== Re: Operations: binary vs unary Posted: Apr 19, 2007 12:38 PM In my math courses we consider a number's operational capabilities to be a part of its "type" or "class". Whereas we have the standard +, -, /, * operators to play with, it's also possible to invoke these operations using a consistent "dot notation" -- which I consider a part of contemporary mathematics (characteristic of several self-executing MNs [1]). Using Python... IDLE 1.2 >>> 3 .__neg__() # unary op takes no argument -3 >>> -------3 -3 >>> 3 .__add__(5) 8 >>> 3 .__sub__(5) # binary op expects an argument -2 Of course this still looks strange to people who grew up in the 1900s (as I did) and think in a different paradigm. In the old way of thinking, operations were not included in our type definitions. The idea of "adding" was somehow independent of the set theory definitions (since dispensed with) of integers for example. Nowadays, a number such as the integer 1 has "guts", just as a string does.[2] Kirby Urner Saturday Academy Silicon Forest, Oregon [1] MNs = math notations, per Kenneth Iverson's treatise thereon: http://www.cacs.louisiana.edu/~mgr/404/burks/language/apl/camnweb/camn.htm [2] 'OOP Meets Algebra, Suggesting New "Ways of Looking" ' by Kirby Urner First posted: Feb 24, 1999 http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/oopalgebra.html

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Blogging about my Pythonic Math class...
by kirby urner 21 Apr '07

21 Apr '07

This'll seem a lot like my other write-ups to you old timers on this list: http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2007/04/class-notes-session-one.html Kirby

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Python for Wanderers (blog link)
by kirby urner 18 Apr '07

18 Apr '07

Here's a blog entry re my presentation on Python to Wanderers last night: http://controlroom.blogspot.com/2007/04/wanderers-2007417.html Kirby

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FW: Recap of tonight's presentation re Python @ Pauling House, Hawthorne, PDX
by kirby urner 18 Apr '07

18 Apr '07

""" >From kirby.urner(a)gmail.com Tue Apr 17 22:55:14 2007 Return-Path: <kirby.urner(a)gmail.com> X-Sender: kirby.urner(a)gmail.com X-Apparently-To: wwwanderers(a)yahoogroups.com Received: (qmail 34588 invoked from network); 18 Apr 2007 05:55:05 -0000 Received: from unknown (66.218.66.166) by m43.grp.scd.yahoo.com with QMQP; 18 Apr 2007 05:55:05 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO n16.bullet.sp1.yahoo.com) (69.147.64.213) by mta5.grp.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; 18 Apr 2007 05:55:05 -0000 Received: from [216.252.122.217] by n16.bullet.sp1.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 18 Apr 2007 05:54:51 -0000 Received: from [66.218.69.3] by t2.bullet.sp1.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 18 Apr 2007 05:54:51 -0000 Received: from [66.218.66.91] by t3.bullet.scd.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 18 Apr 2007 05:54:51 -0000 Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 05:54:49 -0000 To: wwwanderers(a)yahoogroups.com Message-ID: <f04br9+7p5b(a)eGroups.com> User-Agent: eGroups-EW/0.82 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Mailer: Yahoo Groups Message Poster X-Yahoo-Newman-Property: groups-compose X-Originating-IP: 69.147.64.213 X-eGroups-Msg-Info: 1:6:0:0 X-Yahoo-Post-IP: 76.105.200.117 From: "Kirby Urner" <kirby.urner(a)gmail.com> Subject: Recap of Python Presentation Sir Don suggested I recap my tonight's Wanderers presentation for the membership. OK, here goes: Python Nation by Kirby Urner April 17, 2007 Python evolved from ABC, other influences, provides both interactive and runtime environments. My demo focused on the interactive feature, exercising dir() and type(), importing a little, defining a little, ending with a generator or two. The Dog class (below) took up the bulk of the time, with analogies made from this user-defined class, to the built-in types integral to Python, e.g. lists, sets, dictionaries, integers, decimals and so on. """ # globals BenevolentDictator4Life = 'Guido' # PEPs, PSF, Community... ComputerProgramming4Everybody = 'CP4E' # DARPA (-> IDLE) # module /site-packages/don.py ---------------------- # contrasted with barry.py alternative Dog class, to # show how name collisions might become a problem class Dog: """ My funky dog class """ def __init__(self, name): """... a dog is born...""" self.name = name self.stomach = [] def eat(self, food): # unraveled = self.__digest(self) ** self.stomach.append(food) def __digest(self): """code to unravel some plate of food""" def poop(self): return self.stomach.pop(0) # FIFO def __repr__(self): return "I'm a dog named " + self.name def __add__(self, other): return Dog(self.name + "-" + other.name) """ so then you would go like: >>> from don import Dog >>> mydog = Dog('Rover') >>> myotherdog = Dog('Fido') >>> mydog.eat('slice of pumpkin') >>> mydog.stomach ['slice of pumpkin'] ... """ # module site-packages/bill.py ---------------------- # stuff we did in response to bill's queries: joe = raw_input("Give me a number ") mary = raw_input("...and another...? ") whatop = raw_input("what operation?") print joe + whatop + mary print eval(joe + whatop + mary) import this # discuss importance of 'namespace' *** """ ** David Feinstein suggested unraveling, after I introduced a plate of food consisting of list-embedded lists (e.g. [['peas','carrots'],['jello'],['crackers','cheese']] ), but we didn't actually implement the algorithm during class. We also talked about the difference between tcp (checked receipt) and udp (user datagram) within the tcp/ip layer of the Internet, atop which layer ride the protocols: http; nntp; ftp; smtp and so on. Apps use these protocols to facilitate email, news, web and so on. *** example of namespaces: coxeter.4d einstein.4d fuller.4d i.e. each has a meaning for '4d' and using dot notation, we're better able to keep unwanted name collisions from happening. The plan here is to go more deeply into Python on some subsequent Thursday evenings, not necessarily consecutive, and not in conflict with any ISEPP lectures, around the Pauling House table. That's as far as we got tonight. I start teaching this stuff professionally on Saturdays for Saturday Academy and might delay further adult sessions until I've discharged these official duties. On the other hand, there's a lot to be said for simultaneity sometimes. """

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