Mailman 3 February 2010 - 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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Pilot testing the new AP CS definition
by Jeff Elkner 28 Feb '10

28 Feb '10

Potentially important news for Python in education: http://computinged.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/pilot-testing-the-new-ap-cs-def… I wonder if Larry (http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/snyder/) would like help in either developing or testing his new course? jeff elkner

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[ANNC] pynguin-0.1 (python-based turtle graphics application)
by Lee Harr 28 Feb '10

28 Feb '10

pynguin is a python-based turtle graphics application. It combines an editor, interactive interpreter, and graphics display area. It is meant to be an easy environment for introducing some programming concepts to beginning programmers. http://pynguin.googlecode.com/ This is the initial release, with many optimizations and finer details yet to come. Please check it out and let me know what you think. pynguin is tested with Python 2.6.4 and uses PyQt (4.6) for its GUI elements. pynguin is released under GPLv3. Changes in pynguin-0.1: - initial public release _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Powerful Free email with security by Microsoft. https://signup.live.com/signup.aspx?id=60969

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Re: [Edu-sig] Renaming PyWhip
by David MacQuigg 26 Feb '10

26 Feb '10

PyKata ... YES!! Please don't tell me this means something awful in Korean. :>) According to Wikipedia: A kata can refer to any basic form, routine, or pattern of behavior that is practiced to various levels of mastery. In Japanese language, kata is a frequently-used word meaning “way of doing things,” with emphasis on the form and order of the process. Other meanings are “training method” and “formal exercise.” The goal of a painter’s practicing, for example, is to merge his consciousness with his brush; the potter’s with his clay; the garden designer’s with the materials of the garden. Once such mastery is achieved, the theory goes, the doing of a thing perfectly is as easy as thinking it. Practice these problems until you can do them without thinking, at least not thinking about syntax. I used to practice Karate, and this fits perfectly. Comments? -- Dave DeanG wrote: > fwiw... > > I've seen a number of names pulled from the practice applications > martial arts used recently: > kata : http://codekata.pragprog.com/ - > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kata_(programming) > dojo : http://web.cs.wpi.edu/~gpollice/Dojo.html , > http://old.nabble.com/Code-Dojo---yesterday-and-next-year...-td26745289.html > (problematic due to popular javascript library with the same name) > > > > On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 1:32 PM, David MacQuigg > <macquigg(a)ece.arizona.edu> wrote: > >> OK, PyWhip is out. I'm still looking for something short and memorable. >> >> How about PyJet? Fits right in with its most likely home on App Engine. I >> can even imagine a logo with a jet engine strapped to a Python. I can't >> think of any S&M connotations, but then I'm not very familiar with that >> subculture. :>) >> >> I'm more interested in opinions with reasons than just votes. The decision >> will be made by those who are active on the project. >> >> -- Dave >> >> ************************************************************ * >> * David MacQuigg, PhD email: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * * >> * Research Associate phone: USA 520-721-4583 * * * >> * ECE Department, University of Arizona * * * >> * 9320 East Mikelyn Lane * * * >> * http://purl.net/macquigg Tucson, Arizona 85710 * >> ************************************************************ * >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Edu-sig mailing list >> Edu-sig(a)python.org >> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig >>

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Fwd: From one of your old students!!
by michel paul 26 Feb '10

26 Feb '10

Just received this email from a former student earlier this week, and it really made my day. It's an excellent falsification of an argument I was being given last year that Python in math classes MIGHT be OK for really motivated math students likely to major in some STEM discipline but that it would be tangential otherwise. HA! No so! This girl was an artist, a good student, but definitely not going to be a math major. However, having learned some Python in her math class was a plus for her in her college animation course! Since Python is a general purpose language, it opens up all kinds of other doors, not just mathematical ones. And let's be realistic - is she ever going to have to remember or use any of the things we studied in FST? I doubt it. More than likely the most useful thing she got from that course was how to think in Python. - Michel ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Dear Mr Paul, I had your FST class last year. I am going to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and guess what, my scripting for Animation course is in PYTHON!! I thought that would be fun for you to hear, and now I have the advantage in the class for already having some experience with it! Anyway, I hope things are looking up for you and your innovative intentions for upgrading my old high school. -- "Computer science is the new mathematics." -- Dr. Christos Papadimitriou

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Feb 24 cs-in-math Elluminate meeting (Math 2.0)
by kirby urner 26 Feb '10

26 Feb '10

I briefly blogged about our meeting last night. http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2010/02/learning-on-line.html I posted Ed Cherlin's Chinese + Arabic sig as a test of the unicode interface, even though he couldn't find Elluminate for his distro, so had to bail. Maria D. did a good job of hosting, and we were graced with the presence of one of the Great Lambda heavyweights, Peter Henderson. http://www.math-in-cs.org/ The Great Lambda worshipers are a tribe to our north, inherit through LISP, LOGO and Scheme, although that middle language donated its turtle to the OO camp, also working in Ruby right? http://www.rubyquiz.com/quiz104.html http://blog.notahat.com/posts/4 Re: "Great Lambda worshipers": talking about the functional programming camp, not wanting to pollute thinking like a mathematician with the "mutable variables" of the computer scientists. Python has "little lambda" (a token lambda). We seemed pretty much in agreement during this meeting that Computer Science is going away as a high school discipline, leaving only Mathematics (cite: death of CS AP test, only a pale shadow of its former self). The only question seems to be whether folding CS into Math means keeping some programming, or going with the New Zealand unplugged route (CS on paper). I'm not sure even New Zealand is going the NZ unplugged route. Nat Torkington has a say: http://nathan.torkington.com/ Lets see how students "vote with their feet" on that one, i.e. it's not entirely up to the teachers. Kirby

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Django or Web2Py for PyWhip
by David MacQuigg 25 Feb '10

25 Feb '10

Since we are changing the name of the project from PyWhip to (PyKata, PyPractice, PyJet, ???), now might be a good time to reconsider some other basic choices. App Engine seems to be the right choice for the server foundation. Anyone who has tried to develop a web app with modpython will appreciate not having to worry about details like keeping track of user logins. The one major choice I'm still not comfortable with is the framework Django vs. Web2Py. We are currently using Django, because that was the default providcd by App Engine. Web2Py is also supported by App Engine, but perhaps not yet as well integrated (I don't know). The main issue seems to be versatility vs simplicity. My initial impression is that Django is more versatile and Web2Py is simpler. Django has the bigger community of users, more published books, etc., but Web2Py is still early in its growth. We need a framework which will provide all the features needed for a website like JavaBat.com, but will be simple enough that we have no trouble finding web programmers to take over when our current developers move on. I'll let the folks who are ready to step up and do the work make the decision, but if anyone has any experience, comments or suggestions, now is the time. -- Dave ************************************************************ * * David MacQuigg, PhD email: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * * * Research Associate phone: USA 520-721-4583 * * * * ECE Department, University of Arizona * * * * 9320 East Mikelyn Lane * * * * http://purl.net/macquigg Tucson, Arizona 85710 * ************************************************************ *

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barbie's next career: computer engineer
by kirby urner 25 Feb '10

25 Feb '10

http://www.barbiemedia.com/admin/uploads/ComputerEngineerBarbie.pdf No comment. Kirby

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Math Thinking community, meet Math 2.0 network! February 24th webinar
by Maria Droujkova 24 Feb '10

24 Feb '10

Wednesday, February 24th 2010 we will meet in the LearnCentral public Elluminate room at 6:30pm Pacific / 9:30pm Eastern time: https://sas.elluminate.com/d.jnlp?sid=lcevents&password=Webinar_Guest This event, in the Research, Grants and Publications Track, is devoted to the Math in Computer Science community. As a part of the introduction, Maria Droujkova will interview Peter Henderson, a co-founder of the community, about their history, goals and projects. We will then take a look at an active K-12 group within the community, The Teach Group, with Rex Page answering questions about it. We may touch on some of the currently "hot" controversies within the community, such as roles of procedural and functional programming in helping students understand mathematics. More information from the community's site http://www.math-in-cs.org/ What we are Mathematical reasoning is central to computer science. It should therefore be an integral part of the entire CS curriculum, with special emphasis in the early courses. This would be a deviation from current practice, requiring systemic change in CS education. We are a group of computer scientists, mathematicians, and others interested in fostering such change. The group "meets" (via e-mail<http://mail.geneseo.edu/mailman/listinfo/math-thinking-l/>), to discuss topics related to mathematical reasoning in CS and its teaching. An archive <http://mail.geneseo.edu/pipermail/math-thinking-l/> of these discussions is available on-line. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, which mathematical concepts are relevant, when and how they can/should be introduced and reinforced in the curriculum, how they relate to practice, pedagogical approaches to teaching math foundations, supporting laboratories, etc. We are undertaking concrete projects designed to raise awareness of mathematical reasoning in CS and of ways of teaching it. Events where community members meet - CCSC:MW <http://www.ccsc.org/midwest/conference/>, the 16th annual Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges Midwestern conference, Oct. 9- 10, 2009, St. Xavier University, Chicago, IL, USA. - CCSC:NW <http://www.ccsc.org/northwest/>, the 11th annual Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges Northwestern conference, Oct. 9 - 10, 2009, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington, USA. - OOPSLA 2009 <http://www.oopsla.org/oopsla2009/>, the 2009 ACM/SIGPLAN Object Oriented Programming Languages Systems and Applications conference, Oct. 25 - 29, 2009, Orlando, Florida, USA. - CCSC:E <http://ccsce09.villanova.edu/>, the 25th annual Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges Eastern Conference, Oct. 30 - 31, 2009, Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania, USA. - SIGCSE 2010 <http://www.sigcse.org/sigcse2010/>, the 41st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, Mar. 10 - 13, 2010, Milwaukee, WI, USA. - CCSC:CP <http://www.ccsc.org/centralplains/>, the 16th Annual Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges Central Plains Conference, April 9 - 10, 2010, Park University, Parkville, Missouri, USA. - ACMSE <http://www.cs.olemiss.edu/acmse2010/Call_for_Participation.htm>, the 48th ACM Southeast Conference, April 15 - 17, 2010, Oxford, Mississippi, USA. - ICSE 2010 <http://www.sbs.co.za/ICSE2010/>, the 32nd International Conference on Software Engineering, May 2 - 10, 2010, Cape Town, South Africa. - PLDI 2010 <http://cs.stanford.edu/pldi10/>, the 2010 ACM/SIGPLAN Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 5 - 10, 2010, Toronto, Canada. Cheers, Maria Droujkova http://www.naturalmath.com Make math your own, to make your own math.

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Renaming PyWhip
by David MacQuigg 24 Feb '10

24 Feb '10

OK, PyWhip is out. I'm still looking for something short and memorable. How about PyJet? Fits right in with its most likely home on App Engine. I can even imagine a logo with a jet engine strapped to a Python. I can't think of any S&M connotations, but then I'm not very familiar with that subculture. :>) I'm more interested in opinions with reasons than just votes. The decision will be made by those who are active on the project. -- Dave ************************************************************ * * David MacQuigg, PhD email: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * * * Research Associate phone: USA 520-721-4583 * * * * ECE Department, University of Arizona * * * * 9320 East Mikelyn Lane * * * * http://purl.net/macquigg Tucson, Arizona 85710 * ************************************************************ *

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