Mailman 3 November 2009 - Edu-sig

xturtle online via processing.js !?
by Jurgis Pralgauskis 27 Sep '12

27 Sep '12

Hi, I am struggling around with interactive online py tutorials with https://launchpad.net/projects/intro-to-code (ith might become securely sandboxed soon, as pypy made it possible http://blog.sandbox.lt/en/WSGI%20and%20PyPy%20sandbox :) but one more thing is I'd like to let access xturtle functionality online - one possible way could be triggering tkinter to save its canvas to ps, and then convert them with imagemagic and show via web (animated gif or static) - but if pyjamas can render GUI for js (http://www.google.lt/search?&q=pyjamas+python ), mayby there is a way to **translate turtle commands to processing.js analogues** http://ejohn.org/blog/processingjs/ would it be difficult -- how do you think? -- Jurgis Pralgauskis tel: 8-616 77613; jabber: jurgis(a)akl.lt; skype: dz0rdzas; Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;) http://sagemath.visiems.lt

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turtle in education
by roberto 23 Dec '09

23 Dec '09

hello, i am looking for materials, experiences etc. about using turtle module in math, physics and related for middle or high school students i realized a lot of work is going on but is there any place where all or part of this material is gathered ? i am going through the talk of Gregor Lingl at PyCon; if you're aware of anything else just tell me thank you very much -- roberto

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Re: [Edu-sig] [Diversity] Unicode and Ed Initiatives
by Carl Trachte 06 Dec '09

06 Dec '09

2009/8/19 kirby urner <kirby.urner(a)gmail.com>: > كيربي Urner 's CP4E الموارد البرمجة بيثون دمج مواضيع في الرياضيات. > """ > More and more, Python is making inroads at all levels in education. > Python offers an interactive environment in which to explore > procedural, functional and object oriented approaches to problem > solving. أكثر وأكثر ، بيثون تحرز تقدما على جميع المستويات في مجال > التعليم. بيثون عروض تفاعلية البيئة التي لاستكشاف الإجرائية والفنية > وجوه النهج الموجهة نحو حل المشاكل. Its high level data structures and > clear syntax make it an ideal first language, while the large number > of existing libraries make it suitable to tackle almost any > programming tasks. ارتفاع البيانات على مستوى الهياكل وتركيب واضح جعله > مثاليا اللغة الأولى ، في حين أن عددا كبيرا من المكتبات الموجودة جعلها > مناسبة للتعامل مع أي برمجة المهام تقريبا. > > Edu-sig, through its mailing list , provides an informal venue for > comparing notes and discussing future possibilities for Python in > education. ايدو - سيج ، من خلال قائمة البريد الإلكتروني ، ويوفر مكانا > غير رسمي لمقارنة الملاحظات ومناقشة امكانيات بيثون في المستقبل في مجال > التعليم. Its origins trace to Guido van Rossum's pioneering Computer > Programming for Everybody (CP4E) , a grant proposal accepted by DARPA, > and which provided a modicum of funding in 1999. تتبع أصولها إلى غيدو > فان Rossum الرائد الكل لبرمجة الحاسوب (CP4E) ، ومنحة مقترح DARPA قبلها > ، والتي توفر حدا أدنى من التمويل في عام 1999. > > Membership includes, but is not limited to, educators using Python in > their courses, independent developers, and authors of educational > materials. Discussion focuses on Python use at all levels, from > beginning to advanced applications. تضم في عضويتها ، على سبيل المثال > لا الحصر ، والمربين باستخدام بيثون في مناهجها ، والمطورين المستقلين ، > والمؤلفين من المواد التعليمية. بيثون مناقشة تركز على استخدام على جميع > المستويات ، من اوله الى التطبيقات المتقدمة. > > كيربي Urner 'sCP4E الموارد البرمجة بيثون دمج مواضيع في الرياضيات. > """ > > My apologies to those not getting the right unicode translation. I'm > thinking on a diversity list, we should expect more stuff like this, > not less, over time. > > Kirby > _______________________________________________ > Diversity mailing list > Diversity(a)python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/diversity > With the caveat that I don't understand Arabic script, it looks legit on my gmail on FreeBSD 7.2/KDE/Opera. May I make a suggestion? Can we change the topic to something like what I changed it to above and start a new thread? I got a bit confused as the previous thread has a long history. Apologies if I've misinterpreted the thread and the topic. Please feel free to change it to its true meaning. Thanks a ton. Carl T.

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teaching python using turtle module
by Brian Blais 01 Dec '09

01 Dec '09

Hello, I was just playing with the turtle module, and thought it was an interesting way to augment the introduction to python (I teach college students, who haven't had any programming). It's a great way to introduce functions, for-loops, and general program structures. After a bit of playing, I realized that I couldn't think of many examples which use turtle with conditional structures (if- and while- statements), or functions that return values, as opposed to "procedures" like: def square(length): forward(length) right(90) forward(length) right(90) forward(length) right(90) forward(length) right(90) If-statements could possibly be used with some sort of random behavior (if rand()<0.5 ...). Are there any other situations, using turtle, that these structures would be natural? thanks, Brian Blais -- Brian Blais bblais(a)bryant.edu http://web.bryant.edu/~bblais

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Using the Decimal type in Martian Math
by kirby urner 29 Nov '09

29 Nov '09

I'm including the script below, using Python as a calculator, showing off the relatively new Decimal type, mainly to solicit feedback as to whether I'm doing anything really dorky (or that could easily be improved dramatically if I just knew what I was doing more). I don't use this type every day. In lobbying to displace calculators in at least some high school math courses, I need to make it evident to teachers that the bigger more colorful displays are well worth it, even though an advanced TI will do extended precision they tell me. It's still not so easy to take screen prints or to compare (as strings perhaps) with published digit sets (e.g. for pi, e, phi, sqrt(2) -- numbers we care about).[1] However, many math teachers are already converts to the bigger screens, i.e. once they have them, would never go back. Even just having the one up front, thanks to the computer projector, is enough in some classrooms (the 1:1 ratio may be what homework is all about, even in OLPC-ville). So if we're this far along the decision tree (in a computerized math lab, say a TuxLab, running free/libre stuff on commodity hardware) then the next challenge is to tout Python, a scripting language, over say Excel or OpenOffice or that IronPython spreadsheet with Python for cell coding. In Windows world, where Python also runs (on Tk in IDLE if you want the GUI, or on ActiveState's or Wing's for scholars...), Excel is a gravity well for many math teachers, or should I say black hole (they never re-emerge)? Does Excel harness IEEE extended precision? I know Mathematica does. For context: The appended script is a fragment of Martian Math where we take a tetrahedral pizza slice out of a spherical pizza (messy analogy) and weigh it (compute its volume). The 120 slices have identical angles, so all have the same volume for a given h (height), the scale factor built in to all the six linear dimensions (the six edges of each pizza slice). I'm changing the value of h from phi/root2 -- where the pizza weighs in at 7.5 -- to a different value (or vice versa), where the pizza weighs in at volume 5. Given this is Martian Math, there's the little matter of needing a conversion factor (syn3) to escape the Earthlings' worshipful fixation on unit-volume cubes (what keeps 'em retarded -- Martian Math is somewhat counter-culture (= counter-intelligence)). Our canonical Martian Math rhombic dodecahedron has a volume of six and has radius 1 i.e. inscribes each ball in a CCP ball packing (same as FCC, the ~0.74 maximum density possible in ordinary space). The volume 5 rhombic triacontahedron (investigated below) is a different animal (different zonohedron) but there's a bridge in that our T, A and B modules all have the same easy volume of 1/24. The latter two (A&B) build the primitive space-filler (i.e. the Mite, pg. 71 Regular Polytopes by Coxeter)) as well as said rhombic dodecahedron (also canonical cube (vol 3), octahedron (vol 4), tetrahedron (vol 1), cuboctahedron (vol 20) etc.). Probably more than you wanted to know, the kind of stuff I've encoded in my rbf.py for those wishing to explore our digital math track in more depth.[2] Kirby Urner Oregon Curriculum Network 4dsolutions.net isepp.org (board) python.org (voting member) wikieducator (wikibuddy) [1] http://mail.geneseo.edu/pipermail/math-thinking-l/2009-November/001329.html (suggesting high precision explorations, ala fractals, as integral to digital math track (DM)) [2] http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/cp4e.html -- >>> from mars import math http://www.wikieducator.org/Martian_Math === Python v. 2.6 === from decimal import Decimal, getcontext getcontext().prec = 31 # whole numbers d1,d2,d3,d4,d5,d6 = [Decimal(i) for i in range(1,7)] # fractions dthird = d1/d3 dhalf = d1/d2 # surds droot2 = d2.sqrt() droot5 = d5.sqrt() # constants # http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/s09/figs/f86210.html syn3 = d3/pow(droot2, d3) # tetravolume:cubevolume phi = (d1 + droot5)/d2 # golden ratio def tvolume(h): # http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/s09/figs/f86411a.html # http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/s09/figs/f86411b.html AC, BC, OC = ((h/d2) * (droot5 - d1), (h/d2) * (d3 - droot5), h) base = dhalf * (AC * OC) return dthird * base * BC # T module (1/120th of volume 5 rhombic triacontahedron) h = (phi/droot2) * pow(d2/d3, d1/d3) tvol = tvolume(h) print "T Module" print "T in tetravolumes: ", tvol * syn3 print "Rh Triacontrahedron: ", 120 * tvol * syn3 # E module (1/120th of rhombic triacontahedron with radius 1) h = d1 evol = tvolume(h) print "E Module" print "E in tetravolumes: ", evol * syn3 print "Rh Triacontrahedron: ", 120 * evol * syn3 # K module (1/120th of volume 7.5 rhombic triacontahedron) h = phi/droot2 kvol = tvolume(h) print "K Module" print "K in tetravolumes: ", kvol * syn3 print "Rh Triacontrahedron: ", 120 * kvol * syn3

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[ANNC] pybotwar-0.7
by Lee Harr 29 Nov '09

29 Nov '09

pybotwar is a fun and educational game where players write computer programs to control simulated robots. http://pybotwar.googlecode.com/ pybotwar uses pybox2d for the physical simulation. It can be run in text-only mode -- useful for longer tournaments -- or use pyqt or pygame for a graphical interface and visualization of the action. pybotwar is released under GPLv3. Changes in pybotwar-0.7: - pybox2d-2.0.2b1 compatibility (latest pybox2d release) - decouple view modules so unused graphic modules are not required - added new "pinged" sensor to detect when robot is seen by others - randomize order robots are handled each tick - PyQt4 interface improvements - new battle dialog to select combatants - internal text editor improvements - allow multiple open editor windows - do a few simple checks on robot programs when saving _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live: Keep your friends up to date with what you do online. http://www.microsoft.com/middleeast/windows/windowslive/see-it-in-action/so…

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Re: [Edu-sig] more card play
by Laura Creighton 22 Nov '09

22 Nov '09

In a message of Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:27:35 PST, Edward Cherlin writes: >Cards: You are right on the merits for combinatory math, but you will >run into strong cultural aversions. Why? Especially when _dice_ seem to be the preferred way to teach this stuff? (Or is this only here?) Laura

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CICE-2010: Call for Workshops
by Galyna Akmayeva 20 Nov '09

20 Nov '09

Kindly email this Call for Workshops to your colleagues, faculty members and postgraduate students. Apologies for cross-postings. Please send it to interested colleagues and students. Thanks! CALL FOR WORKSHOPS The CICE has been a prime international forum for both researchers and industry practitioners to exchange the latest fundamental advances in the state of the art and practice, Pedagogy, Arts, History, Open Learning, Distance Education, Math and Science Educution, ICT, Language Learning, Education (Early Year, Secondary, Post-Secondary and Higher), E-Learning, and identify emerging research topics. The CICE-2010 encourages you to submit workshop proposals. Workshop duration can be 2 hours. All the accepted papers will be included in the conference proceedings. You can consider organising a workshop that is related to CICE-2009 topics. The purpose of these workshops is to provide a platform for presenting novel ideas in a less formal and possibly more focused way than the conferences themselves. It offers a good opportunity for young researchers to present their work and to obtain feedback from an interested community. The format of each workshop is to be determined by the organisers, but it is expected that they contain ample time for general discussion. The preference is for one day workshops, but other schedules will also be considered. Important Dates Workshop Proposal Submission: December 15, 2009 Notification of Workshop Acceptance: December 31, 2009 The proposal must include: 1. The name of the workshop. 2. A statement of goals for the workshop. 3. The names and addresses of the organisers. 4. The names of potential participants, such as program committee members. 5. A description of the plans for call for participation (e.g., call for papers). 6. The expected number of attendees and the planned length of the workshop. 7. The topic of the workshop should be relevant to the main conference and details of any previous workshops. 8. The URL of the workshop web site. The workshop paper submission and author notification due dates are at the discretion of the workshop organisers but not later than 28 of February, 2010 in order to be included in the main conference proceedings. After acceptance of the workshop proposal, it is the responsibility of the Workshop Organiser(s)/Workshop Chair(s) to review all submitted papers to his/her workshop. If you are interested in organising workshops for the CICE-2010, please email your proposal to the workshop(a)ciceducation.org. Your workshop proposals will be reviewed by the Steering Committees. For further details, please visit www.ciceducation.org

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Fwd: PyCon Posters deadline looms: Nov. 30
by kirby urner 19 Nov '09

19 Nov '09

Some of you will have seen this, apropos edu-sig. Note that virtual posters have a later deadline. Kirby ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Catherine Devlin <catherine.devlin(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 1:13 PM Subject: PyCon Posters deadline looms: Nov. 30 To: python-announce-list(a)python.org The deadline for PyCon poster proposals is coming up soon - November 30! This year PyCon is introducing Poster Sessions. Poster sessions provide an alternative presentation mechanism that facilitates more one-on-one communication between the presenter and the audience. Poster sessions are particularly suited for topics of interest to a subset of the community, and we anticipate these sessions will provide an "incubator" for further discussions. PyCon 2010 is now seeking proposals for poster presentations and virtual poster presentations. Proposals for posters will be accepted through November 30th, and acceptance notifications will be provided by December 14th. More information about the what, how, when, and why of poster sessions is here: http://us.pycon.org/2010/conference/posters/cfp/ See you at PyCon, -- - Catherine http://catherinedevlin.blogspot.com/ *** PyCon * Feb 17-25, 2010 * Atlanta, GA * us.pycon.org *** -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-announce-list Support the Python Software Foundation: http://www.python.org/psf/donations/ -- >>> from mars import math http://www.wikieducator.org/Martian_Math

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nexting vs. kicking (generators)
by kirby urner 17 Nov '09

17 Nov '09

My thanks to Carl Trachte for reminding me to make this link to a famous photograph of Ernest Hemingway: http://marbury.typepad.com/marbury/2009/09/kicking-the-can-down-the-road.ht… I've taken to binding "kick" to "next" (a built-in) and "kicking the can down the road" as my metaphor for iterating over and iterable, invoking the next API (i.e. kick). It's a pedagogical technique, not a company coding style. Renaming a built-in is not "normal" practice. You'll see this further spelled out in my introduction to the examples here provided: http://www.wikieducator.org/PYTHON_TUTORIALS#Generators (I've been hanging out with the Wikieducator crowd, comparing notes on South Africa and New Zealand most recently -- open source conversations). I'm submitting a talk entitled "Idiosyncratic Python" [sm] to OSCON this year, hoping to explain how somewhat pathological code might nevertheless reinforce clear conceptualization, and therefore stronger code down the line. Another example was replacing 'self' with other signature bindings, driving home some OO concepts and Python's particular implementation thereof. Any language tracing to Monty Python and having snake __ribs__ all over the place shouldn't complain about "idiosyncratic" right? IP will likely become a permanent feature of Pythonic pedagogy (PP) whereas where full blown andragogy is concerned (more inclusive) I might favor "truly demented" over the "merely idiosyncratic" (admittedly recruiting more youth that way too -- though some might run screaming... http://xkcd.com/107/ ). Our recent User Group meetings have been intensively into Mercurial. We should offer a full college level course on DVCS and VCS tools, perhaps through Saturday Academy? I should write to Joyce Cresswell again. We would want a minimum of two teachers, in keeping with our digital math teaching philosophy. Jason and Bret? Kirby PS: kudos from Chairman Steve for our recent diversity training / workshop / event featuring contributed Pythonic technology and lore: http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315@N00/4112904842/sizes/o/ Thx Steve!

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