Mailman 3 September 2009 - Edu-sig

Re: [Edu-sig] casino math (unit three) (Saturday night fever)
by Laura Creighton Sept. 13, 2009

Sept. 13, 2009

I have to think about this more, but on a very quick first reading it seems that you have missed a strategy that I have needed in order to solve some tough PileOn games. And that is breaking up groups of 2 or 3 that you already have built, or dealt. Given these 3 piles to start with A B X X C D X E F G X B (and then some more) the correct way to solve things may be to put E and B in the empty slots, take one X from the first pile and put it on the second and take the other and put it on the third. Then move the B from the empty slot back to pile one. The same thing has also been needed when piles are A X X B as well. Does your algorithm handle that, or does it assume that things that are stuck together belong together? Laura

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Re: [Edu-sig] casino math (unit three)
by Laura Creighton Sept. 12, 2009

Sept. 12, 2009

In a message of Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:29:36 +0200, Gregor Lingl writes: >Laura Creighton schrieb: >> In a message of Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:23:55 PDT, kirby urner writes: >> >> <snip> >> >> >>> On break, we encourage playing with Pysol maybe... >>> >>> http://www.pysol.org/ >>> http://pysolfc.sourceforge.net/ >>> http://tktable.sourceforge.net/tile/ >>> http://pygames.sourceforge.net/ >>> >>> Kirby >>> 4D >>> >> >> I think that the pysol game 'Pile On' is always solvable. >> Anybody know for sure? Writing a program that exhaustively creates >> all the possible layouts and then solves them seems possible, >Hi Laura, >I fear that this is not practicable. There are 52! = >80658175170943878571660636856403766975289505440883277824000000000000 >permutations of 52 cards. If one considers the permutations of the 13 pil >es >as equivalent and also the permutations of the four suits one still >arrives at a number >of possible Pile On games that exceeds by far the number of nanoseconds >that passed >since the beginning of the universe. I don't think that it is quite as bad as all that, given that all we really have is a set of 52 cards which are 4 sets of 13 cards with different marks on them. Thus there is a significant reduction you can make at the start because an initial set where all the 8s are swapped for all the 4s are equivalent. But then, I wasn't really looking for the brute-force proof, but the elegant one. I was hoping for an induction proof for 4 sets of 4 cards, n cards, and n + 1 cards, but so far I haven't managed it. >Yes, I would also be interested in such a proof. I for my part learned >to know Pile On >only today and I find it rather difficult to play. So from my own very >irrelevant >experience would expect that there are start configurations which might >not be solvable - >--- at least for me :-( Don't believe the strategy that pysol gives about not stacking 3 cards of a same rank on a single. As far as I can tell that is nonsense. But do keep track of what cards are on the bottom. >Thanks for the deverting hint >Gregor You are most welcome. :-) Laura

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notes from django con
by kirby urner Sept. 10, 2009

Sept. 10, 2009

Some of you may have been peeking at my blogs, where I'm packing in details re DjangoCon, ongoing in Portland. I'm getting a lot of validation for this idea of bringing GIS / GPS closer to the core curriculum (talking high school servers) with all these local data sources about real world concerns. On the math side, it's all great circles and polyhedra i.e. the bridge from geometry to geography is gonna be central (anticipated in Vilnius slides, linked in my last post). GeoDjango is part of what's exciting me here, and the Postgres back end. Those of you on diversity(a)python.org will have seen a lot of traffic twixt python-dev management e.g. Aahz and one of the top Postgres community organizers, Selena. We're also on great terms with Admirers of JavaScript here in Portland (lots of overlapping attendance -- the we did better with Cubespace as a grand central though, a step back to have these separate office towers with locked doors and guards). The reason I bring up JavaScript is we're seeing a lot of robustness in that language, as the guts of the browsers. V8 in Chrome. HTML5.... So picture more control panel or cockpit type GUIs with low level JSON chatter over the wire, with Django type stacks on the server (Rails type...). Anyway, it's all way cool and math related. GIS is all about polygons. If you're a math teacher looking for applications, here they are. But then a school needs strong IT to move into these areas. Who on faculty wants to take this on? This is knowledge to pass directly to students, not hide behind curtains. If you use computers, you need to learn how to control them. That's part of what the new literacy entails, per R0ml, so if the math teachers refuse, maybe the language teachers will take it on. Django culture is very Kansas-meets-UK flavored, which feels a little like Clint Eastwood meets Dumbledore. I was snake bearer for PSF, helping bring the two totems together **, more like a Vulcan mind meld than a Klingon mating ritual, although they're both at the hotel now... (I'm local, so at home). Kirby ** http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2009/09/ppug-200998.html ( @psf_snake at PPUG last night ) http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2009/09/djangocon-day-2.html ( @psf_snake and @djangopony with totem bearers)

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using python/jython for educational game robocode
by Jurgis Pralgauskis Sept. 10, 2009

Sept. 10, 2009

hello, finally I managed use python for http://robocode.sf.net with the help of <jinq0123.at.163.com> I can run it on ubuntu 8.04 and 9.04. * install jython2.2 (not 2.5) * install robocode (1.7 was better for me than 1.6 in one aspect ) copy files to your robocode directory ftp://ftp.akl.lt/users/jurgis/robocode/jython-OK/ you can straightforward try jy.Jymbo and jy.JymboWall or update paths to your needs in .sh files ==== and go on === * write yourbot.py and put it in robots directory there are several types of robots, for example http://robocode.sourceforge.net/docs/robocode/robocode/Robot.html when writing jython version, don't forget "self" keywords defining your own methods or calling Robot methods ;) * edit compyle-jy221.sh to your needs (on win some path syntax canges are needed and name compile-jy221.bat) - it adds robocode.jar to shell classpath before compilation to java - and compiles using jythonc (indicating robot filename and package name) * find the new .java and .class files * make the appropriate .property file for your bot (not compulsory) * call robocode-jython.sh (adds: 1) NoSecurity option and 2) jython.jar in classpath ) ps.: with robocode 1.6 I had to restart the robocode before each battle, or otherwise jython bot's didn't work.. 1.7 didn't have this problem ps.: still haven't tried to implement more complex robot actions... just cloned MyFirstRobot and Wall by the way, JymboWall acts a bit strangely -- when figuring its direction, it usually is not perpendicular to walls :/ ok, waiting for your comments -- Jurgis Pralgauskis Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;) http://kompiuterija.pasimokom.lt

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Re: [Edu-sig] Forgot password
by Laura Creighton Sept. 9, 2009

Sept. 9, 2009

Go here: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig Down at the bottom of the page there is a button that says: 'unsubscribe or edit options'. Stick ejstrassberger(a)cps.edu in the blank field in front of that, and click the button. You will get a page that starts by asking for your password, which you don't have. But on the bottom of the page it says 'Password Reminder' and a button to click that says 'Remind'. Click on that. You will get your password sent to you. Then you repeat the whole thing again, except this time on the second page, fill in the password that you were mailed, and then click on the unsubscribe button. Then wait for more mail. It will tell you to go to some automatically generated web page and click on that to really unsubscribe. Then you are done. Laura

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Forgot password
by Earl Strassberger Sept. 8, 2009

Sept. 8, 2009

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[ANNC] pybotwar-0.6
by Lee Harr Sept. 8, 2009

Sept. 8, 2009

pybotwar is a fun and educational game where players create computer programs to control simulated robots to compete in a battle arena. http://pybotwar.googlecode.com/ pybotwar uses pybox2d for the physical simulation, and uses either pygame and pygsear or PyQt4 for the visualization. pybotwar is released under GPLv3. Changes in pybotwar-0.6: - expanded README file - add robot program template - new (optional) PyQt4 interface - track amount of damage caused by each robot - warn if database version is out of date - add position sensor and example robot to test it out - new robot and turret images - fix possibility of 2 robots spawning at same position - add a maximum time for match - fix crash from too many files open during long tournament - catch and log robot errors during module compilation - add cannon overheat sensor - add cannon loaded sensor - reload penalty for firing while cannon overheated (defaults to 0) - reload penalty for firing before cannon is loaded (defaults to 0) - use both tangent and normal impulse to determine collision damage - fix crash saving stats when using multiple copies of the same robot _________________________________________________________________ More than messages–check out the rest of the Windows Live™. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowslive/

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A request for Kirby
by Andre Roberge Sept. 5, 2009

Sept. 5, 2009

Dear Kirby, Many times on this list and elsewhere ( http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2006/08/python-pedagogy.html and http://controlroom.blogspot.com/2006/09/lunch-on-hawthorne.html) you have written about Python's special methods as "__ribs__". While you have given many examples ... it is difficult to find a single definitive link that others could be directed to, to learn about this approach (with links to other examples...). I think it would be very useful to all of us if you could come up with a "reasonably complete" single post (either on this list or on some other website) about __ribs__, starting from the beginning simple image, meandering in your own unique way to perhaps conclude with an example showing operator overloading (with fractions?) using Python's special methods. André

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Re: [Edu-sig] generic open source projects...
by Laura Creighton Sept. 5, 2009

Sept. 5, 2009

>What I need to find out before going too far with this is: > >(a) do we already have exactly what I'm seeking as a public project? Not that I know of. And given that after 'I want to make a game' this is the number 1 thing that children I meet want to learn programming to do -- find out when their favourite websites change so they won't miss anything but don't have to go there every day, I would predict that this project would have a lot of mass appeal. But I think that Ian Bicking has written and released code that would be useful. >(b) will I be able to find schools that want to turn students loose on >this scaffolding? No clue. But I would have a hard time finding non-university schools interested around here. >(c) are we looking at a real project like on Sourceforge, or just a >set of interconnected examples that feature aspects of Python? Well, I would like to make the buzz bot understand something like 'other language plugins' from the start. Maybe we need some linguistic-trained people? or would just a good sampling of people who speak other languages from the onset work? >This proposal is in part a response to Laura's CP4E work on the >Diversity list. She's been suggesting that a primary barrier to >increasing diversity is simply the daunting time demands, the somewhat >austere culture of half-moribund bug trackers and dev lists (some of >these are more like sunken shipwrecks) -- scares people away, >especially people who "have a life" outside of being uber-nerds. Ah, in context, I think this scares them away from Python Core Development; I am sure that there are other projects which have other reasons that are the primary reason for lack of diversity. >The fancier buzzbots fork into multiple Python worker bee processes >that each harvest and file to SQL independently, with a Dispatcher >(queen bee) keeping track of open searches, handing them off to >available processes. I published some manga code to the Chicago user >list awhile back, haven't tried to dig for it yet... Speaking of manga - an image-scraper-and-recogniser would be awesome. But I don't know how to write one of those, at all. Wonder who does? Laura > >Kirby >_______________________________________________ >Edu-sig mailing list >Edu-sig(a)python.org >http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig

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more casino math
by kirby urner Sept. 4, 2009

Sept. 4, 2009

""" By Kirby Urner, 4Dsolutions.net for Oregon Curriculum Network (copyleft) 2009 casino_math was originally developed as part of a pilot project for gnu math teachers in the Greater Portland area Bug reports: kirby.urner(a)gmail.com Code repository: 4dsolutions.net/ocn/python """ import random class Deck: """ Primitive 54 card deck, including the two jokers S13 means King of Spades, H12 means Queen of Hearts You could enhance this, have less austere labeling. """ def __init__(self): self.deck = [ # our list of 54 cards (suit + str(rank)) for suit in ['H','D','C','S'] for rank in range(1,14) ] + ['joker']*2 def deal_off_top(self): if len(self.deck) > 0: return self.deck.pop(0) def deal_off_bottom(self): if len(self.deck) > 0: return self.deck.pop(-1) def shuffle(self): # typically done immediately after __init__ random.shuffle(self.deck) @property #read only def howmany(self): return len(self.deck) class Hand: """ Subclass at will! To see A's cards, go A() i.e. A is "running its mouth" """ def __init__(self, playername): self.playername = playername self.cards = [] def sort_cards(self): # alpha sort, so H10 before H7, feel free to enhance self.cards.sort() def get_card(self, thecard): self.cards.append(thecard) def random_card(self): if len(self.cards)>0: return self.cards.pop(random.choice( range(len(self.cards)))) def __repr__(self): return "Hand(%s)" % self.playername def __call__(self): # blab about cards return self.cards def unit_test(): """ Script: Deal five cards round robin to four players from shuffled deck. Each player shows sorta sorted cards. Each player discards random card. Each player shows cards a 2nd time. Action: >>> import casino_math >>> casino_math.unit_test() Hand(Tagrid) ['H10', 'H6', 'S2', 'S4', 'S5'] Hand(Jeena) ['D12', 'D8', 'H13', 'S13', 'joker'] Hand(Abaz) ['C10', 'C12', 'D11', 'H7', 'S6'] Hand(Foobot) ['C11', 'C2', 'C4', 'D9', 'H11'] Hand(Tagrid) S4 Hand(Jeena) joker Hand(Abaz) D11 Hand(Foobot) H11 Hand(Tagrid) ['H10', 'H6', 'S2', 'S5'] Hand(Jeena) ['D12', 'D8', 'H13', 'S13'] Hand(Abaz) ['C10', 'C12', 'H7', 'S6'] Hand(Foobot) ['C11', 'C2', 'C4', 'D9'] """ thedeck = Deck() thedeck.shuffle() theplayers = [] for player in ['Tagrid','Jeena','Abaz','Foobot']: theplayers.append(Hand(player)) for deal in range(5): # 0-4 for player in theplayers: player.get_card(thedeck.deal_off_top()) for player in theplayers: #blabber cycle player.sort_cards() print(player, player()) for player in theplayers: print(player, player.random_card()) for player in theplayers: #blabber cycle print(player, player()) # explain this to your students if __name__ == "__main__": unit_test()

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