Mailman 3 November 2008 - Edu-sig

True or False? - A translation is a function.
by michel paul 28 Nov '08

28 Nov '08

We were talking about translations in math class, and I was going to show the students how the translation notation in their text could TRIVIALLY be turned into Python code, and it occurred to me that maybe I should first find out if they understood that translations already WERE already functions or if functions and translations were two different kinds of things. The results were very interesting. Lots of hesitation and disagreement among the students. Some had no problem at all saying that yes, a translation is a function. Others got stuck on the idea of a vertical translation somehow violating the 'vertical line test', so they thought vertical translations would not be functions. That was what I was suspecting - our curriculum creates a really boxed in sound-byte understanding of what functions are all about. The kids get trained to respond "is a function" when they see a 'U' shaped parabola and to respond "is not a function" when they see a 'C' shaped parabola. However - the important issue is not a vertical line test - the important issue is clearly designating our input and output. A horizontally opening parabola is simply a function in the form x = f(y). They also tend to develop the boxed in notion that functions are things that operate on and produce single scalar values. That's the effect the current curriculum has. The idea that a function can take in ordered pairs or lists seems strange to most students who haven't been exposed to programming. I found that a useful discussion to have, and I thought it might be fun to see what the teachers in the math department believed. So, I went around and asked. I just wanted to see what their honest in the moment response would be. Amazing - I got the same responses as from the students. Some had no problem with the idea. Others did get it right, but with much hesitance. And, several did not get it right. The reasoning on the part of the teachers who were either unsure or incorrect was the same as the students'. It really does seem that our curriculum fosters among both students and teachers an understanding of functions as things that operate on and produce single numbers and as graphs that pass the 'vertical line test'. All the more argument for weaving in a computational thread in the curriculum. - Michel P.S. A couple of weeks ago I gave my first presentation at a math conference. I had a small group in my session, but they really seemed to get it. The title of my presentation was *Fractions are Objects, not Unfinished Division Problems*. It was the first time any of them had seen Python. They loved it.

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xturtleDemo hack to mark current executing line
by Jurgis Pralgauskis 26 Nov '08

26 Nov '08

Hello, I made a small trick, inspired by rur-ple "Code and Learn" environment see methods my_trace and set_line_number (left the names same as in rur-ple cpu.py) I don't know TkInter, so I just put *** in front of the current line there are a few issues I don't know how to resolve: * if the line is outside the textbox, it isn't seen, as the text is each time rewritten to textbox (there should be some scroll to line function, I hope) * I'd like to have step (inside of the loaded module) functionallity (as in rur-ple), but it is still magic for me... you can find the modified file http://files.akl.lt/users/jurgis/python/xturtle-hacks/ and I paste the essence here for archiving purposes: def my_trace(self, frame, event, arg): #same called in rur-ple cpu.py if event == "line": if self.code_src == "file" and self.module.__name__ in str(frame.f_code): time.sleep(0.5) self.set_line_number(frame.f_lineno) # print "my_trace: event, frame:", event, inspect.getframeinfo(frame) return self.my_trace def set_line_number(self, lineno): # could be called highlight_line lines = map(lambda x: " "+x, self.code.split("\n") ) lineno = lineno - 1 # the real one :) lines[lineno] = "*** " + lines[lineno][4:] self.text.delete("1.0", "end") self.text.insert("1.0", "\n".join(lines) ) # in start_demo(...) sys.settrace(self.my_trace) result = self.module.main() sys.settrace(None) # this should be also called in StopIt -- Jurgis Pralgauskis tel: 8-616 77613; jabber: jurgis(a)akl.lt; skype: dz0rdzas; Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;)

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Reinventing the classroom...
by kirby urner 25 Nov '08

25 Nov '08

So once we agree we want some kind of computer lab, the question is, what kind? They already come in many flavors, one of my favorite being the virtual hosts approach, where all software and lessons for the day come preloaded such that you experience a properly equipped distro right out of the starting gate, MySQL, SQLite, povray, VPython, some x3d browser, everything you need. No time waisted with RPMs or apt-gets or any of that. Of course from the teacher's perspective, it can't be that labor intensive to manually reconfigure each workstation nightly, which is why the virtual hosts model provides check box menu driven type interfaces, not saying I've seen but a few, schools tend to roll their own sometimes. So as Mr. Urner, I say "tomorrow I want Python 3.x", then that's what'll be there, perhaps turning off install options for every 3rd party package with no compatible version yet (smart menu!). Having been doing some work in the private sector around multiple pyprocessing clients talking to a host via Pyro, I'm thinking my ideal classroom lets students practice teamwork across workstations, even if these are virtual, i.e. the actual classroom hardware is more terminal than desktop computer, the racks being elsewhere. It's not like every day we need interprocess communication across hosts, but some days we might, and this classroom makes it easy for the teacher to set that up ahead of time (e.g. by getting pyprocessing installed -- not Standard Library, emulates Threading but with process dynamics under the hood). I realize we're not there yet, except in some of these executive training centers, i.e. the "students" I'm talking about are business professionals with six figure incomes, hoping to stay in the game during the next tech cycle, where there's lots of hiring but precious few with the skills. That's why I think ramping up more in high school makes a lot of sense, wouldn't mind shoving a lot of that "old Europe" approach to mathematics to one side to make room, but that's just in our more radical / surreal encampments, not saying to try this at home. Maybe a Quaker school here and there might be into making a go of it. However, if we play our cards right, this kind of TuxLab type executive training lab could become more part and parcel of the ordinary pre-college experience, as well as college, where wired dorms are already the norm and computer labs abound. Vendors are already gearing up for this market, as mentioned earlier on edu-sig, with products that'll temporarily limit access or even disable the keyboard at the teacher's discretion, not saying every course need confer such godlike powers (including powers to snoop, lurk). If it's a Quaker school, likely students will share sysop responsibilities so there's a clear view against abuses of power all round, whereas (on the other hand) in some classes, e.g. martial arts, students willingly consent to temporary restrictions i.e. having keyboard go dead, flickering terminals -- could be a valuable simulation and/or learning experience, given likely field conditions this crew is training to handle, maybe erratic power supplies, frequent brown outs. Anyway, if you've been tracking my blogs you see my focus is more the Portland coffee shop scene these days, not so much classrooms, where I just use whatever PSU has to offer. These storefronts already host artists, sculptures, photographers, double as art galleries in other words, which these days might as well include a few LCDs, i.e. flatscreens, framed TVs. Nam June Paik and friends, Hell's Kitchen and so on, have already paved the way for TV screen as art vista, so it takes very little work to get these exhibited, with public buy in that these aesthetics are OK. LA has many examples, with Portland playing catch up (Costello's on East Broadway a good example of what I'm talking about, but also Back Space downtown). Screens host "screen savers" done using Python in some capacity, maybe just playing off a DVD at this point (or streaming) no live CPU in this picture. http://www.paikstudios.com/ http://www.costellostravelcaffe.com/photos/#id=interior&num=1 http://www.backspace.bz/index.php Kirby

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edu-sig page is orphaned?
by Jurgis Pralgauskis 24 Nov '08

24 Nov '08

Hello, http://www.python.org/community/sigs/current/edu-sig/ in Resources PyBiblio link leads to Error 404 IDLE "page" looks also strange (though I understand it doesnt have direct dependence from edusig page) Software Carpentry leads to old page (as I know http://swc.scipy.org/ is quite newer) PyGeo link is also error 404 http://pw1.netcom.com/~ajs/ in the editors section PyScripter is a must (it is the best opensource pyeditor I know on windows for intermediate students) - PyScripter http://wiki.python.org/moin/PyScripter - Crunchy http://crunchy.sourceforge.net/ is very nice project For more fun programming (somewhere close to PyGame): - PyGlet http://www.pyglet.org/ - MakeBot (http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/2008-October/008808.html http://stratotools.python-hosting.com/browser/trunk/makebot/) - no mention of Turtle, why?!! now should be ;) http://bugs.python.org/issue1513695 http://www.geocities.com/jjphoogrp/clixtur.html and alongside I know a book, thtat uses turtle a lot http://www.briggs.net.nz/log/writing/snake-wrangling-for-kids/ edusig mailinglist addres could be at the top, as this is main spot of activity :) I hope, that smb, that is responsible for edu-sig page, could quite easily integrate (some of) these proposals :) -- Jurgis Pralgauskis Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;)

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Reality checks at OSU...
by kirby urner 21 Nov '08

21 Nov '08

So I got a lot of reality checks visiting OSU in Corvallis yesterday, a campus I've visited in other contexts, but this was my first time to more central campus buildings that I can recall, parked off Jefferson near Monroe, went to special collections in Valley Library for a visit to the Doug Strain reading room (more info in blogs). The big flatscreen in the library shows study carrels (floor plan, like CubeSpace), and which have computers in use, vs. which are sitting idle, with icons by operating system: Windows, OSX, OSX-music, OSX-video, i.e three flavors of Apple, one of Microsoft (Windows icon). Zero Penguins. Gotta bring those in on laptops, use 'em with wifi, which is what I'd planned for (lugged my Dell in Razz (my Subaru)). The icon for your study carrel turns red or pinkish if you've stayed over two hours. I couldn't tell if this was a badge of honor, shame or neutral, as in "I study really hard" vs "I hog more than my share" vs "who the hell knows what it means" (more my attitude). Of course there's no way to tell, from the flatscreen, which of these cubes was running any Python. That'd be kind of invasive (of privacy), though sometimes a sysop might poll processes for anonymous summarizing i.e. OSU would be able to register upticks in Python usage if it wanted, without naming names, kind of like O'Reilly does around book titles (i.e. what's hot and what's not) etc. I liked how these students looked really interested in learning stuff, and very believably that's what they were there for (to actually study -- not everyone in a toga, no evidence of kegs (this was the library, after all)). My daughter Tara (freshman in high school) was impressed, and with more than just the library. She got to hold a Nobel prize even, one of two in the exhibit chamber. In the MVC design I'm working on, significant work gets performed by Python processes with no obligation to update a browser directly, i.e. the visualization process is on a whole different machine potentially, and works against SQL tables directly. A good analogy might be a closed source archive: you have access to the reference desk (as a browser) but the nuts and bolts application, controlled by way of a web interface, isn't directly talking to any web framework, even if Django's a front end. To "control" is to submit to a jobs queue in SQL, not to chat directly with aliens (other Pythons). This way of implementing MVC means the core controller maintainers don't need to know jack about AJAX or talking to web clients. Just make sure all the relevant info gets out there in MySQL or what have you (sqlite for prototyping maybe), and let geeks doing visualizers work independently, in other cities even, no sharing of source code necessary, just table schemas. I'm not coding solo in this picture, have svn credentials is all. There's possibly an open source angle in that a lot of code gets wasted making up for the fact that your average XHTML isn't designed to be searched (as a namespace, it inherits a lot of visualization concerns as attributes), whereas some flavors of XML are designed entirely around making different ontologies more accessible. So a stripped down version of the parser could be released that just assumes a customized, search-friendly playground, where people post their political views, other thoughts, with the very deliberate intent to guide scoring and polling at the XML level. These are politicians or pundits, opinion shapers, not shy about expressing themselves. In other news, Pycon is suggesting Steve Holden and I rent a blimp to flash ads about a Flying Circus event: him and me doing an experimental prototype curriculum of tomorrow as a twosome, me the futurist Portlander, hot off the jet, and he the focused interlocutor, keeping me on task and on target, in terms of preaching relevantly to the actually present choir. Given the somewhat mathy content of the proposal (wanna do some RSA, fractals in PIL, vectors in VPython), the idea of the blimp was to attract local high school teachers from around Chicago, maybe shifting to an evening time slot on the weekend so they might come after work (a generous concession). My response has been to defend the content as private sector relevant even though it's in the guise of a futuristic high school curriculum (drawing from personal experience actually teaching this content to high school aged students here in Portland, as chronicled in this very edu-sig archive). The goal is to impart skills around core Python plus some important libraries and strategies for using 'em (same as most tutorials, so not so unusual, no blimp need apply (sounds expensive!)). Plus this duo workshop leader format might demonstrate a good way for project leaders in all walks of life to manage teams of peer coders i.e. set up some semi-Socratic Bob asking Alice or Alice asking Bob, with Eve the lurking learner, gradually picking up clues as to where the team has been, is headed, starting to more ask better questions as the picture becomes clear (unlike in cryptography, Eve is on our side in this picture, just might not speak our language yet, i.e. Python). Kirby

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Re: [Edu-sig] Rich Data Streams
by Daniel Ajoy 12 Nov '08

12 Nov '08

ask prog: Where can I find lists of data in useful computer formats? ie. wordlist, world cities, populations, etc. http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7civs/ask_prog_where_can_i_fin… Daniel

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Re: [Edu-sig] Ruby in the Curriculum
by David MacQuigg 08 Nov '08

08 Nov '08

At 04:10 PM 11/7/2008 -0800, kirby urner wrote: >Ruby also good at integrating OpenGL, expect lots of good curriculum >writing for that language already in the pipeline. Wouldn't it be better to port the good stuff to Python? Same for Ruby-on-Rails. The more we fork, the longer it will take to get Python where it belongs, ahead of Java in our curriculums, preferably at the Freshmen level or earlier, with Java, C++, Ruby, etc. for those who are going to be full-time programmers.

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Using YouTube
by kirby urner 07 Nov '08

07 Nov '08

Once again, I was so happy to have Python + VPython handy for my geometrical studies, what brought me to Python in the first place, by way of Java, trying to write scene description language for a ray tracer at first (POV-Ray, still using it), then VRML (today x3d), then finally, real time (VPython). Given I'm so focused on such spatial-slash-polyhedral studies, I've never been able to get away with just "flat stuff", consider SVG, Pygame and even Flash mostly flat. Java3D is good for round stuff, or whatever Scott Vorthmann is using to write vZome, the virtual Zome builder and free Java download. Ruby also good at integrating OpenGL, expect lots of good curriculum writing for that language already in the pipeline. I'll be interested to see if VPython comes out with a 3.x edition and how soon, as there's some tendency in the teaching community to start right in with the new syntax, not go with the old "print" only to have to relearn the new one, plus so many new shortcuts and add-ons to master, why waste time with 2.x? (is the attitude). Anyway, here was today's effort, stemming from lengthy investigations going on in Minnesota involving dissections and assemblies of five-fold symmetric polyhedra such as the rhombic triacontahedron, always looking for bridges between four and five fold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEpnOE9Cw_Y What you've got here is a rhombic triacontahedron "shrink wrapped" around a sphere of unit radius, then blown up by a scale factor to a volume of precisely 7.5, only to intersect with a rhombic dodecahedron likewise shrink wrapped, of volume 6 (all volumes in tetravolumes). The 7.5 volumed shape has radius phi/sqrt(2). This all goes by pretty fast in Akbar font, then goes to the VPython canvas, for some insider views. :) Kirby 4D

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More preaching to the choir...
by kirby urner 01 Nov '08

01 Nov '08

Here's a pointer to some related writings @ Math Forum, which I used to tell Arthur S. (this archive) was more like "center ring" in my circus, i.e. where math teachers meet irrespective of caring about geek subculture, computers etc.: http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=1845616&tstart=0 Re planets in orbit, another interesting implementation, already field tested, multiplies complex numbers of unit radius, begetting rotation, then scales appropriately. Of course these orbits are merely circular, so not that realistic, so apply some field distortion if wanting elliptic (not something we tried). Here's some code: http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/python/orbits.py Kirby 4D

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ANN: Docpicture 0.2
by Andre Roberge 31 Oct '08

31 Oct '08

Hello everyone, Docpicture 0.2 has been released. You can download it from http://code.google.com/p/docpicture/ Docpicture's goal is to enable embedding pictures inside Python docstrings using some custom domain specific language (dsl). docpicture includes a plugin architecture enabling users to extend it by adding new dsl parsers. Docpicture behaves as an enhanced help() for Python. It requires a default browser capable of displaying svg images (e.g. Firefox 3) ======================= This version of docpicture can display the following type of images: 1. turtles (!). This *has* to be a selling feature for people on this list! ;-) 2. images downloaded from the web (in any format) 3. Mathematical equations (requires matplotlib) 4. UML sequence diagrams (require a live internet connection) 5. Full matplotlib plots. This is very much a proof-of-concept version. Comments and suggestions are most welcome. Code contributions [for other types of images] even more so. ;-) André Roberge

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