Mailman 3 February 2011 - 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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re Python's "batteries included" meme
by kirby urner 09 Oct '11

09 Oct '11

As I watch students struggle with the: if __name__ == "__main__": concept (where to put it, what it does), it occurs to me we could be doing more to leverage the already well-worn "batteries included." What's different about Python? The rich libraries it comes with, including a cross-platform GUI IDE. That's one meaning of "batteries included". But in another sense we could speak of the generic module as a "battery" with the "if run top-level" logic having to do with battery *testing*. ==== python module ==== [ BATTERIES ] (functions, classes, global-to-module names...) if __name__ == "__main__": [ BATTERY TESTERS ] ==================== That changes the meaning a little more, to where each Python module is like "a battery pack" with its own set of "testers". One thing we do with battery packs is we "import" (promote) their internals within a top-level namespace that starts off in some other (alien) module. Another thing we do with battery packs is run them top-level namespaces on their own, perhaps depending on imports (outsourced resources). I'm not suggesting harping on this too much, just another slide that goes by, but a fun mnemonic, and reinforcing of an already approved / useful design pattern (see my previous post in this edu-sig archive for an example of this self-testing style, relying on doctest for services). Kirby

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Eclipse as Python3 IDE
by kirby urner 11 Mar '11

11 Mar '11

Just wanted to share experiences using PyDev plugin within Eclipse, with Python 3... I've not been unable to get pickle to work properly, with the error confirmed by others. Sometimes (in at least one case) an error marker will indicate a module name cannot be resolved, and yet it imports and works anyway. Getting proper syntax-coloring around triple-quotes seems problematic, especially when the first line is empty e.g. """ comments go here """ However, I'm able to get the coloring situation to resolve by moving text around later... On the whole, Eclipse is pretty capable in supplying an interactive shell, lots of different windows. There's even a terminal window option if you want to do ssh into a server right from within Eclipse. As the above difficulties get ironed out, I think Eclipse will continue to serve as a development platform for Pythonistas. It's not the only option, given Visual Studio, Wing IDE etc., but it's one of the better free ones (eMacs, vim -- these do everything too, in the hands of experienced users, Notepad not so much). [ I remember how Jason Cunliffe used to post a lot about Leo to this archive. There's a school of thought that's more into "literary programming" as I'd call it, where comments might be relatively copious, with more hypertext relationships. You get these fancy markups... ] Some of you may be familiar with the O'Reilly School of Technology (OST) and its use of Eclipse as a front end to accredited courses in the many languages, databases and so on. Rather than use the free-standing Eclipse, which is an option, you get a customized student version called Ellipse that runs of their servers in a remote desktop session. This seems a creative approach and gets a next generation of developer prepared with one of the state of the art environments, using some of the best industry standard tools (e.g. Python and MySQL). Kirby PS: in other news, I've continued to focus on the plight of the lone FoxPro coder (which was me for many years, but not just me) and possible migration paths for legacy applications. FoxPro is a dialect of xBase nutured by Microsoft over the decades. It competes with their other products and too many people use it for free (not the original business model, unlike Java's) so the plan is to discontinue support for it by 2015 I think it is. This decision is having lots of boat rocking-ripple effects, It's not automatic that the .NET platform is where to go next, certainly not with VB necessarily. New developers don't want to waste time learning a proprietary dead language that might be hard to come by down the road, so there's increasing pressure to migrate those legacy FoxPro apps that still do valuable work. I haven't been tracking closely and don't know if MSFT is taking IronPython that seriously, in terms of marketing and outreach. Server side apps still seem to be gaining over thick clients in many institutional settings, but again, I'm not posing as having a lot of overview here. Gotta read all those IT mags I guess, but who has the time? Pointers to true story use cases welcome.

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Re: [Edu-sig] UnitTest?
by Laura Creighton 08 Mar '11

08 Mar '11

In a message of Sat, 26 Feb 2011 10:28:58 MST, David MacQuigg writes: >In my opinion, the unittest framework is way too cumbersome for an >introductory course. Doctests are simple and self-explanatory. >Students should get in the habit of writing a doctest for every function >they write, even before the function itself is written. I think this is a reason to use py.test or nose rather than unittest, but not a reason to use doctest. I'm very fond of Mark Pilgrim's Unit testing chapter in Dive into Python http://diveintopython.org/unit_testing/index.html (2.x) http://diveintopython3.org/unit-testing.html (3.x) which is easy to adapt to a less verbose testing framework. Laura

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Mosaics using Python...
by kirby urner 03 Mar '11

03 Mar '11

""" Mosaics using Python generators... by K. Urner 4dsolutions.net based on a thread on mathfuture: http://groups.google.com/group/mathfuture/msg/9d098696c2ea7426?hl=en Just as the Fibonacci sequence generator might be "seeded" by any two integers to start off, so might Pascal's Triangle be seeded with any beginning row. When these sequences are formed into tabular or other areal displays, such that information may be gleaned from rows and columns, these formats may be called "mosaics" in some of the literature. """ def fibonacci( a=0, b=1): """ Generator for a Fibonacci sequence starting from any two integers See: Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences http://oeis.org/A000045 >>> gen = fibonacci() >>> [next(gen) for i in range(11)] [0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55] >>> gen = fibonacci(-1, 2) >>> [next(gen) for i in range(11)] [-1, 2, 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, 29, 47, 76] """ while True: yield a b, a = a + b, b def pascal( therow = [1]): """ Generator for Pascal's Triangle starting from any top row Enter list for top row See: Number Mosaics by Adi R. Kanga (pg. 29, Fig 20) http://bit.ly/gDmmAo >>> gen = pascal([15, 20, 6]) >>> next(gen) [15, 20, 6] >>> next(gen) [15, 35, 26, 6] >>> next(gen) [15, 50, 61, 32, 6] >>> next(gen) [15, 65, 111, 93, 38, 6] >>> next(gen) [15, 80, 176, 204, 131, 44, 6] >>> next(gen) [15, 95, 256, 380, 335, 175, 50, 6] """ while True: yield therow therow = [ i + j for i, j in zip(therow + [0], [0] + therow) ] def _test(): import doctest doctest.testmod() if __name__ == "__main__": _test()

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discrete math vs digital math (does it matter?)
by kirby urner 27 Feb '11

27 Feb '11

Per the log entry below, I've been rubbing elbows with Portlandia's "intelligencia" again (comic book allusion), thanks to Chairman Steve (and Elizabeth). Steve is walking towards my place as I write this, having just met with the latter, the event organizer. Methinks "digital math" is gaining on "discrete math" as what to decry as not being taught (the ongoing media campaign I've been updating y'all about). The latter has the disadvantage of sounding like "discreet", whereas "digital" has these nice reverberations with "analog" -- and that's precisely the distinction "discrete" was trying to make in keeping it quantized, as in "not continuous". People already know "analog vs digital" from popular media. HDTV is digital. Shows like 'The X-Files' get recorded as files, on magnetized disks keeping ones and zeros, or in flash drives. Analog records still sound good though; worth keeping a turntable and watching video clips about how they work. However, the reason this is probably not an important argument is zip codes (e.g. 97214) are free to vary as to what they adopt (or don't) in terms of nomenclature. We might tell parents: "the Silicon Forest is amazed and agog at how plugged up the STEM pipeline has become, like why won't schools share more digital math?", whereas in a neighboring state we might say something about how the lack of "computational thinking" is quite stunning (and stunting). Why Johnny Can't Code is still a classic, though I don't know why the author bothered to take an ill-informed swipe at Python. Someone's partisan agenda I suppose **. http://radar.oreilly.com/2007/01/why-johnny-cant-program.html There's no need to standardize on "the one right way to talk" -- a sure way to get bogged down in nonsensical little arguments. OK, back to mathfuture. Oh yes, and the log entry: http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2011/02/open-secrets.html Steve will be joining you at Pycon soon. I'm too booked up this year. I forget if Michelle will be going, I think she said yes. Ah, Steve is here, Kirby Urner 4dsolutions.net Martian Math Digital Math Pythonic Math "Gnu" Math ** "The "scripting" languages that serve as entry-level tools for today's aspiring programmers -- like Perl and Python -- don't make this experience accessible to students in the same way. BASIC was close enough to the algorithm that you could actually follow the reasoning of the machine as it made choices and followed logical pathways. Repeating this point for emphasis: You could even do it all yourself, following along on paper, for a few iterations, verifying that the dot on the screen was moving by the sheer power of mathematics, alone. Wow!" ... sounds to me like this author doesn't have clear concepts, is getting this fed to him 2nd hand, not through personal experience. Since when is Python "entry level" (compared to what? -- every language has its newbies) and since when did we stop "following along on paper, for a few iterations"? OK, maybe not literal paper.

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UnitTest?
by Zac Miller 26 Feb '11

26 Feb '11

Does anyone teach any unittest or test driven development to high school (or other) students? I'm looking for a quick reference or "cheat sheet" for python's unittest that I found around the internet once and never bookmarked. I may be imagining it but I remember it being great. If anyone knows the one that I think I saw one time or has a great one they wouldn't mind sharing I'd be very thankful! If not...perhaps it is my destiny to create one. -J. Zachary Miller

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Re: [Edu-sig] UnitTest?
by Laura Creighton 24 Feb '11

24 Feb '11

The children I have taught have had absolutely no problem with py.test. They wouldn't have had problems with nose, either. unittest is a bit wordy for them. And as far as I am concerned, unless you happen to need to test the formatting of your documentation, you shouldn't be using doctest at all. Laura

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Re: [Edu-sig] UnitTest?
by Vernon Cole 24 Feb '11

24 Feb '11

I think for most high-school level work, use of the "assert" statement would be the first thing to teach. It can be used in an "if __name__ == '__main__': " construct in a module to make a good quick test. see https://launchpad.net/romanclass as an example. Simple modules do not need anything as complex as unittest. It would be a good advanced subject, though. -- Vernon Cole

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Thanks!
by Zac Miller 24 Feb '11

24 Feb '11

Thanks, that reference sheet is just the kind of thing I was looking for. I'm working through those Python courses at OST and Python 3 has a lot of great things in it! -J. Zachary Miller ________________________________________ From: edu-sig-bounces+zmiller=gsc.edu(a)python.org [edu-sig-bounces+zmiller=gsc.edu(a)python.org] On Behalf Of edu-sig-request(a)python.org [edu-sig-request(a)python.org] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011 6:00 AM To: edu-sig(a)python.org Subject: Edu-sig Digest, Vol 91, Issue 11 Send Edu-sig mailing list submissions to edu-sig(a)python.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to edu-sig-request(a)python.org You can reach the person managing the list at edu-sig-owner(a)python.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Edu-sig digest..." Today's Topics: 1. UnitTest? (Zac Miller) 2. Re: UnitTest? (Corey Richardson) 3. Re: UnitTest? (kirby urner) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2011 23:05:02 -0500 From: Zac Miller <zmiller(a)gsc.edu> To: "edu-sig(a)python.org" <edu-sig(a)python.org> Subject: [Edu-sig] UnitTest? Message-ID: <1DECD34B57C2C44A8F3374D034E6735A03133C6F79D9(a)amp.gsc.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Does anyone teach any unittest or test driven development to high school (or other) students? I'm looking for a quick reference or "cheat sheet" for python's unittest that I found around the internet once and never bookmarked. I may be imagining it but I remember it being great. If anyone knows the one that I think I saw one time or has a great one they wouldn't mind sharing I'd be very thankful! If not...perhaps it is my destiny to create one. -J. Zachary Miller ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2011 23:09:30 -0500 From: Corey Richardson <kb1pkl(a)aim.com> To: edu-sig(a)python.org Subject: Re: [Edu-sig] UnitTest? Message-ID: <4D65D9FA.50401(a)aim.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 On 02/23/2011 11:05 PM, Zac Miller wrote: > Does anyone teach any unittest or test driven development to high school (or other) students? I'm looking for a quick reference or "cheat sheet" for python's unittest that I found around the internet once and never bookmarked. I may be imagining it but I remember it being great. If anyone knows the one that I think I saw one time or has a great one they wouldn't mind sharing I'd be very thankful! If not...perhaps it is my destiny to create one. > I found https://portal.g-node.org/python-summerschool-2009/_media/cheat_sheets.pdf As a student, I wish we covered testing in class. It's a very useful skill! -- Corey Richardson ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2011 23:18:25 -0800 From: kirby urner <kirby.urner(a)gmail.com> To: "edu-sig(a)python.org" <edu-sig(a)python.org> Subject: Re: [Edu-sig] UnitTest? Message-ID: <AANLkTimkrPyrg46R1RDUXLJGwer03To_naxLiWP=gJSp(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I'm teaching it as a part of O'Reilly School of Technology's certificate program in Python 3. Steve Holden is the curriculum author. Thanks for asking this question. Corey's link looks useful, although Chrome is anxious about it having security problems. Kirby On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 8:05 PM, Zac Miller <zmiller(a)gsc.edu> wrote: > Does anyone teach any unittest or test driven development to high school > (or other) students? I'm looking for a quick reference or "cheat sheet" for > python's unittest that I found around the internet once and never > bookmarked. I may be imagining it but I remember it being great. If anyone > knows the one that I think I saw one time or has a great one they wouldn't > mind sharing I'd be very thankful! If not...perhaps it is my destiny to > create one. > > -J. Zachary Miller > > > _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list > Edu-sig(a)python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig >

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