Mailman 3 May 2007 - Edu-sig

Python for Halloween
by kirby urner Oct. 21, 2007

Oct. 21, 2007

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 … [View More]

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education as Python killer app
by Michael Tobis May 29, 2007

May 29, 2007

Is education Python's killer app? I think it could be. I used the occasion of the Python Papers to motivate my efforts to explain this idea, and you can see what I came up with on pages 8-15. The part that makes me especially queasy is the CP4E section on pages 10-11. I wish I had more to say there. It's fairly clear to those of us who weren't there that there were some problems, but it's not especially clear what they were or what we should learn from them. I'd very much appreciate input … [View More]

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(no subject)
by naveen bandla May 28, 2007

May 28, 2007

--------------------------------- Did you know? You can CHAT without downloading messenger. Know how!

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Let's work together on this...
by Jeffrey Elkner May 27, 2007

May 27, 2007

Hi Jeff, I really liked your posting from yesterday and think you are right on the mark with the benefit of creating a repository of programs for "new programmers". I'm working with several student interns this summer developing curriculum materials for Arlington Public School's new "Intro to IT" course. I plan to make the OLPC a center piece technology for that course. We are working on a beginners graphics API called gasp: https://launchpad.net/gasp students love the power a library … [View More]like this gives them to create fun to play games programs even as beginners. Steve Holden was kind enough to stop by my school and give an impromptu demonstration of how to design a network game server for games like checkers and battleship: http://linus.yhspatriot.net/cs/netprog/HomePage I have my students working on versions of these games as end of year projects. By mid July I will have the best results of their efforts polished up a bit, annotated, and put on the Python Bibliotheca: http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/pyBiblio I'll then be sure to edit your new wiki to fill in links to the work we are doing wherever appropriate. What I like most about the wiki is that it will give us ideas for future projects. Thanks for taking the time to set it up! jeff elkner open book project http://ibiblio.org/obp ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Jeff Rush jeff at taupro.com Sat May 26 10:46:25 CEST 2007 wrote: While there are those who enjoy solving abstract problems, programming or otherwise, if seems to me that if we're going to tackle CP4E (computer programming for everyone, for those not aware of the history), we have to make programming not the end-goal but the tool for doing the things in which those people are interested. CP4E will never make the vast majority of people programming geeks. So it seems to me that it would advance the cause, of programming in general and Python specifically, if a repository of resources were assembled. I'm sure some of these exist scattered across the net but some I've never been able to find. And non-programmers can be so impatient in rummaging through sites, understandably wanting to get on with solving their problem. I tossed together a very rough wiki page of some ideas I've been kicking around. These resources attempt to answer a response I get frequently when I push the learning of Python, that of "but what would I -do- with Python once I learned it?". http://wiki.python.org/moin/Advocacy/ProgrammingForNewprogrammers I call that group "new programmers" - somehow calling them normal or average folk seems mildly insulting to someone, and calling them "non-programmers" isn't accurate if our goal is to teach them programming, albeit non-vocational style. "Non-professional programmers"? "Typical" people? "Making People Programming-Literate"? -Jeff [View Less]

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Re: [Edu-sig] [python-advocacy] education as Python killer app
by Laura Creighton May 27, 2007

May 27, 2007

In a message of Sat, 26 May 2007 03:46:25 CDT, Jeff Rush writes: > http://wiki.python.org/moin/Advocacy/ProgrammingForNewprogrammers > >I call that group "new programmers" - somehow calling them normal or average >folk seems mildly insulting to someone, and calling them "non-programmers" >isn't accurate if our goal is to teach them programming, albeit non-vocational >style. "Non-professional programmers"? "Typical" people? "Making People >Programming-Literate"? > … [View More]

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Re: [Edu-sig] [python-advocacy] education as Python killer app
by Laura Creighton May 26, 2007

May 26, 2007

In a message of Sat, 26 May 2007 03:46:25 CDT, Jeff Rush writes: <snip> >I call that group "new programmers" - somehow calling them normal or average >folk seems mildly insulting to someone, and calling them "non-programmers" >isn't accurate if our goal is to teach them programming, albeit non-vocational >style. "Non-professional programmers"? "Typical" people? "Making People" >Programming-Literate"? > >-Jeff I think the word you are looking for is "amateur". … [View More]

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OLPC on 60 Minutes
by kirby urner May 26, 2007

May 26, 2007

So I just viewed this segment, mostly an interview of Negroponte with Leslie Stahl: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/09/60minutes/main13546.shtml , but with lots of footage from Cambodia, plus significant footage of (a) Negroponte telling lecture hall that Intel was bad (b) Intel defending itself in the person of its CEO. For an intro to a big topic, I thought this was good overview, and 60 Minutes always needs a twisted plot i.e. a bad guy, so I don't begrudge dwelling on the private … [View More]

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Latest gnu math paper
by kirby urner May 25, 2007

May 25, 2007

Although sort of in the underground comix tradition, this overview/storyboard isn't guaranteed to make a whole lot of sense to people not already well versed in my particular school of thought (remote, obscure, far from the mainstream -- still fun though): http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/py4www.html Feel free to ask any questions and I will try to supply context. Kirby

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Some thoughts on the word "Laptop"
by Atul Varma May 24, 2007

May 24, 2007

Hello, A few days ago, Michael Tobis brought up the New York Times article "Seeing No Progress, Some Schools Drop Laptops" [1] on the OLPC Chicago mailing list. Scott Van Den Plas then responded to it with the question, "How can OLPC focus on educational reform and avoid comparison to simply placing laptops into a traditional setting?" [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/education/04laptop.html I responded to his question on the OLPC mailing list and Michael thought it might be useful for … [View More]me to post it here. On 5/8/07, Scott Van Den Plas <scottv(a)gmail.com> wrote: > How can OLPC focus on educational reform and avoid comparison to simply placing > laptops into a traditional setting? Well, I imagine it's too late to change the name of the program, but to be honest the very name "one laptop per child" made me laugh out loud the first time I heard it. I think it's because of the connotations that the word "laptop" brings: it's something that, 10 years ago, was a yuppie status symbol, and I think that's significant. Imagine how ridiculous a program like "one cell phone per child" sounds--even if you try to emphasize that a cell phone can actually be incredibly useful for communication, especially for societies that don't even have land-line telephones, the fact is that the first thing that pops into people's heads (well, my head at least) when they hear the word "cell phone" is a Samsung advertisement about some new feature-loaded monstrosity that comes with downloadable ringtones. The word "laptop" comes with almost as much negative cultural baggage as "cell phone". When most people see the word "laptop", I'm guessing they usually think of Norton AntiVirus, Ad-Aware, Microsoft Office, porn, and Google. Only one or two of those is generally regarded as a really useful thing. And when the word "laptop" and "child" are put in the same sentence, all I can think of is MySpace and Alge-Blaster, which are things no nation should spend millions of dollars on. On the other hand, I *love* the term "Children's Machine", which is what the OLPC laptop was originally called. A "machine" is what I had when I grew up: it didn't help me with school in any direct way, it didn't serve as a replacement for a good textbook or a great teacher, but it served an entirely different purpose: it was my personal little lab where I could create things and tinker with the things others had created. Social scientists call it "Bricolage" or "Constructivism", and whatever it is, it's something that I wish every child in the world had some opportunity to experience. So the word "Children's Machine" brings back memories of what I had when I was growing up: it wasn't portable like a laptop, but it served many of the same goals, I think, that OLPC is aiming for. So I guess my two cents to OLPC are: drop the word "laptop". And especially don't call it "One Laptop Per Child", because that phrase alone is going to throw dozens of assumptions into people's heads and they're just going to laugh at you, like I once did. - Atul [View Less]

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Fwd: PyStart - Python Programming teaching/testing program
by Nicolas Pettiaux May 19, 2007

May 19, 2007

I relay this answer from Jason Brower that I thank. Nicolas ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jason Brower <encompass(a)gmail.com> Date: 19 mai 2007 10:27 Subject: Re: PyStart - Python Programming teaching/testing program To: nicolas.pettiaux(a)ael.be I have the launchpad ready for blueprints here.. Have fun everyone! https://launchpad.net/pystart On Sat, 2007-05-19 at 00:34 +0200, Nicolas Pettiaux wrote: > This Google summer of code 2007 project has not yet, as far as … [View More]

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