Mailman 3 February 2008 - Edu-sig

edupython '08
by Jessie 'Chuy' Chavez Feb. 28, 2008

Feb. 28, 2008

Hi all, I'm an engineer at Google in Chicago (working on java not python:) but also a former math/science teacher interested in meeting up for EduPython this year. I've been following the list via feeds though, sadly, haven't had much time to participate. I'm glad PyCon is in town this year and look forward to attending this year's conference as well as the friday and saturday nite edu-sig BOF. If folks are interested, I can offer up a meeting/tour at our office in River North. I added it to the wiki page as a suggestion. Thanks and hope to see soon, Jessie Chavez Software Engineer Google, Inc. - Chicago

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Python Reloaded?
by kirby urner Feb. 27, 2008

Feb. 27, 2008

So what's instead of reload in Python 3.x? I did some Googling, got stuff like: http://www.techlists.org/archives/programming/pythonlist/2007-08/msg04244.s… I've been enjoying the EuroPython logo contest, lots of cool entries: http://controlroom.blogspot.com/2008/02/pythonic-art.html http://controlroom.blogspot.com/2008/02/new-entries.html Probably any books in production should take 3.x as the new standard right? Even if we go back to 2.x in the sidebars, to help new students understand an older code base. Running a2 on my Ubuntu Dell, with IDLE 'n everything. I haven't rewritten my own 4D Solutions code base yet, so it's not like I'm in a big hurry or anything. 3.x is in alpha, not in production. But books are different from electronic files, in terms of sheer bulk and lag time to market. Ending up on the culling table at Fry's too soon is bad for business. I anticipate fewer school books, more Safari-like services, even if you ask for hardcopy in places -- not by government edict (though govt still wastes too much paper IMO), more market forces, the result of individuals trying to stay up to date (like how *do* you, without a subscription? without RSS?). Kirby 4D

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Deliverable Lesson Package = runnable Python Module
by kirby urner Feb. 26, 2008

Feb. 26, 2008

My projects have brought me to "lesson plan as python module" or "python module as lesson plan" concept, a quasi no-brainer for a lotta ya already, i.e. it's what you've been doing all along. The "lesson reading / plan = Python module" idea connects to the rich data structures idea (also a thread on comp.lang.python not so long ago too). Like you might keep your Periodic Table of Elements on the side, in some text-based format, and pipe it in with a reader, or you might start with it already in a Pythonic data structure (it's not either/or), e.g. a module with each element a class instance of Atom, with attributes protons and neutrons etc. (why reinvent the wheel?). Here's a link to a home grown example of recent vintage, floating around among teachers: http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/python/global_matrix.py Note that much of the verbiage is about the knowledge domain (hexapent geometry -- HP4E is one of my pet projects, named in honor of CP4E). The lesson isn't so much about the Python implementation, which is quite trivial in this case i.e. is not a "big code" example (very minimal Python 3.x). What we expect are many similar modules but with at least the comments sections swapped out, replaced with text in other languages, including left to right cursives -- the promise of Unicode. Your on-ramp to programming doesn't *have* to mean complete immersion in Latin-1. The format is simple enough that individual teachers now swap these around i.e. we're not trying to go for an embeddable XML type solution, documentation directives, just native Python in these examples, cut and pastable into any reasonably Unicode- aware text editor.** Kirby 4D ** I'm aware of other fancy skinning techniques, some with tools for easy code extraction -- again, it's not either/or.

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Re: [Edu-sig] the "minimalist vs. maximalist" spectrum
by kirby urner Feb. 18, 2008

Feb. 18, 2008

So I've been cavorting in J-world some (Jsoftware.com). That's another math-through-programming REPL, in the tradition of APL and ISETL. Been blogging as usual, plus watching the EuroPython thing gel. A local gig in the private sector led to a big Chicago-based firm thinking highly of Python (some buzzcrawler app my friend Patrick wrote, after attending my classes). I get the impression that word is still spreading, the buzz about Python still getting going. Like this head hunter I talked recently with was just starting to learn about Python. I pointed her to O'Reilly's famous "history of programming languages" time line (not up to date, but still highly informative). Follow-up meeting on Tuesday. Our Portland User Group (PUG) list has been fun lately, with basic / core Python advice (Jason sure knows those itertools). I'm still working with TECC, an Alaska based charter still on the drawing board, and a possible outlet for Pythonic Math products, forged here in Bridge City aka Portland. LEP High, off the drawing board (in the sense of fully operational) already had me in for a test drive. Heavy emphasis on peer-to-peer learning, like with Kusasa. TECC's founder, Anna Roys, walked away with my copy of John Zelle's book (my gift to her youngest). Her family already invests in C++, or was it C#. Anyway, there's definitely a talent pool around Anchorage taking shape on my radar (I haven't managed to jet up there yet though -- way busy in PDX). More on the math-teach list (Math Forum @ Drexel). So we'll probably do cellular automata, fractals, the kind of eye candy stuff we've talked a whole lot about here over the years (surprise surprise).Kevin's PythonCard demos also fit here, plus lead into code samples around how to leverage wxPython (see below). Portland is heavily into nanotech. Seems like CA studies and nanotech also wind up co-mingling. I find it useful to distinguish between Python packages written by pro programmers like Kevin, and helpful to students in various walks of life (e.g. Alice, no longer in Python), versus more Pippy-like stuff, where the assumption is that users want direct access to some calculator-like REPL, will do their own coding, maybe with some scaffolding (e.g. a vector class, or something to write povray or x3d files (why reinvent the wheel?)). My company's output has focused mostly on the Pippy-like angle, moving to other APIs only recently. Others here are into providing deeper packages, stuff students might use without trying to poke around in the source code too much, which code is way above the beginner level. Doesn't mean they can't do that eventually of course. Go back to that turtle, figure out what made it tick. In between, are self-teaching products, i.e. learning tools that also teach how to write rather elaborate programs (way above the "sequences and series" of OEIS vintage that I focus on -- using Python generators more often than not (many examples already given, I'll spare you the repetition, plus "next syntax" has changed with 3.x, so a lot of my stuff needs a rewrite)). PyGeo falls into this category (a self-teaching product), in that Arthur was looking to new recruit bona fide "code warriors", not just students of projective geometry (the knowledge domain for this package). Environments like Leo suggest themselves at this juncture, as if you're taking students deep into a source code forest, a lot will depend on friendly documentation, a sense that you have a clear guide. The fact of a Unicode basis also means these heavily documented code piles take internationalization for granted (not true when I was first cutting teeth as a coder of text based, then GUI apps). Python is such a fertile mixing ground because it attracts the minimalist REPL people, coming from Iverson's APL/J pipeline, (I'd count myself in this group), *and* maximalist writers of "big code" such as Zope. We don't exactly compete, just come from different ends on the spectrum, meeting in some happy middle ground. A lot of us wear more than one hat on this small-to-large spectrum, e.g. write unit tested embellishments by day, as part of a team, churn out reams of disposable hobby code by night ("programming just for the fun of it"). IDLE itself is a good symbol of this middle ground, in that it's what gives minimalists their 5-10 liners, tiny modules of 2-3 classes (4D Solutions: permutations, game of life on a hexapent, fractals, NKS stuff, polyhedra...), yet is itself a substantial package, based around Tkinter, and requiring a team of maintainers, continuing what Guido started. Along one path you might move to MathCad say, or some other terse notation (generators first, sigma notation to follow). Along another, you could drill down into IDLE or Pygeo or Plone or whatever, and start seeing what deep, complicated Python programs look like under the hood. Keep digging to the system layer and below, if that's your calling (all the way to the chip in some cases). In sum, what I like about Python is that you can introduce it without too much bias, to both "minimalists" and "maximalists". Students at the intro level get to share the same basic curriculum, and yet divide up at the next level, now having more to go on to make an informed choice -- exactly what one wants in a CS0 (or in some exotic hybrid "gnu math" sequence such as we're sourcing from Portland). Kirby 4Dsolutions.net

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Education BOF at PyCon
by csev Feb. 14, 2008

Feb. 14, 2008

Was there ever a time figured out for the BOF in Chicago - or will we figure it out when we get there? I am looking forward to is as I am teaching intro programming in Python for the first tie this semester and would like to learn from other folks teaching starting programmers. Charles Severance University of Michigan www.dr-chuck.com

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Education BoF at PyCon
by Vern Ceder Feb. 10, 2008

Feb. 10, 2008

Hey, everyone... I've just put a placeholder down for us on the BoF wiki page for PyCon - http://wiki.python.org/moin/Birds_of_a_Feather - I assume some of us will want to get together in Chicago. The question, as always, is where and when... Cheers, Vern -- This time for sure! -Bullwinkle J. Moose ----------------------------- Vern Ceder, Director of Technology Canterbury School, 3210 Smith Road, Ft Wayne, IN 46804 vceder(a)canterburyschool.org; 260-436-0746; FAX: 260-436-5137

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