Mailman 3 May 2018 - Edu-sig

a short essay about programming
by kirby urner 08 Dec '22

08 Dec '22

A common "error" (not too serious) that I see in beginning Python (and no doubt other languages, but Python is the one I'm teaching), is having a while condition that appears to put a lid on things, but then the flow all leaks away through break statements, such that the "front door" condition is never revisited. while guess != secret: guess = int(input("Guess?: ") if guess == secret: print("You guessed it!") break else: print("Nope, try again...") What's messed up about the above code is you never really go back to the top in the case where you'd get to leave. Rather, you exit by the back door, through break. So in that case, wouldn't have been simpler and more elegant, even more "correct" (dare I say it) to have gone: while True: # no ifs ands or buts guess = int(input("Guess?: ") if guess == secret: print("You guessed it!") break else: print("Nope, try again...") I see lots of heads nodding, and that could be the end of the matter, but then a next question arises: wouldn't this also be a more correct solution?: while guess != secret: guess = int(input("Guess?: ") if guess == secret: print("You guessed it!") continue # instead of break else: print("Nope, try again...") We're back to having a variable while condition, not a boolean constant, but this time we actually exit by means of it, thanks to continue or... while guess != secret: guess = int(input("Guess?: ") if guess == secret: print("You guessed it!") else: print("Nope, try again...") ... thanks to no continue. This last one is getting a thumbs up, but then I'd pause here and say "continue" can be easier on the eyes. It's unambiguous where it takes you, in contrast to having to scan on down the gauntlet, looking for possibly other open doors. "What happens next" should not require scanning ahead too far. Help us not to get lost. Be a civic-minded coder. I'm thinking of a programming style that advises two things: (a) if you use a while condition that's variable, that's expected to change, then your goal should be to always exit because of that, i.e. that should be your only exit point. Even if some other criterion suggests exiting, you have the option to flip that "lid" at the top, to crack that front door, and bounce the ball out. (b) which is why 'continue' is your friend. You are showing the user where your 'break' statements are, except you don't use "break" statements, as you've given a non-constant condition, and your aim is to make that your ONLY exit point. In short: never use break to exit a while loop unless your condition is while True. Instead, always flip the condition and exit through the font door. However, as soon as I make that rule I can think of good reasons to break it. The other programmers in the room are shaking their heads. Won't we lose information, needed elsewhere in the program, if we "artificially" force a True condition to False. Aren't we, in effect, lying? That concern could be addressed. Keep all the info true, just treat the "lid condition" (it "keeps a lid on it") as a flag. Go ahead and remember the user's guess. allowed = 5 tries = 1 exit = False while not exit: # no other way out guess = int(input("Guess?: ") if guess == secret: print("You guessed it!") exit = True # instead of break continue print("Nope, try again...") tries += 1 if tries == allowed: print("You've maxed out") exit = True continue I think we all understand the main issue: writing reader-friendly code, and rules for doing so. There's something comforting about approaching a while loop and knowing its not a leaky sieve, riddled with back doors, maybe even an exit( ) time bomb. But in the recursion world we want a minimum of two exits usually: when another round is called for versus when we've "hit bottom". Can we have it both ways? Conclusions: Lets not be too hasty with rules of thumb and: Lets keep the reader in mind when writing code. Just because the interpreter knows to compute the flow unambiguously, doesn't mean all ways of writing it are equally reader-friendly. What may seem a gratuitous gesture, an unnecessary flourish, may actually promote reader comprehension of your code, and that should be a goal as much as satisfying the interpreter. Kirby

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MineCraft with Python
by Jurgis Pralgauskis 04 Dec '22

04 Dec '22

Hi, intro: many kids like MineCraft :) probably you know/heared of MineCraft Pi https://www.raspberrypi.org/learning/getting-started-with-minecraft-pi/ But there seems to be Py for real MC http://coderdojotc.readthedocs.io/projects/python-minecraft/en/latest/ http://www.instructables.com/id/Python-coding-for-Minecraft/ PS.: a nice article (from js4MC world) https://github.com/walterhiggins/ScriptCraft/blob/master/docs/YoungPersonsG… -- Jurgis Pralgauskis tel: 8-616 77613; Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;) http://galvosukykla.lt

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turtle coordinates: Y increase downards - as in most graphics API?
by Jurgis Pralgauskis 02 Jul '18

02 Jul '18

Hi, usually in computer graphics Y is counted to increase downwards. I casn do it with: setworldcoordinates(0, 400, 600, 0) but then, "right(..)" turns to the left :/ I could swap: right, left = left, right but on errror I get a bit misleading message >>> right() Traceback (most recent call last): File "<pyshell#10>", line 1, in <module> right() TypeError: left() takes exactly 1 argument (0 given) I thought to make this hack for kids, so better clearer error msgs... Any Ideas? Thanks :) -- Jurgis Pralgauskis tel: 8-616 77613; Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;) http://galvosukykla.lt

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Prealgebra via Python programming
by Sergio Rojas 31 May '18

31 May '18

Hello folks, Released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Prealgebra via Python programming is available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325473565 In case you find yourself in the mood to collaborate to improve the readability and/or enhance/enrich the content of the book, feel free to contact me at the above email address. Sergio -- Enhance your #MachineLearning and #BigData skills via #Python and #SciPy https://www.packtpub.com/big-data-and-business-intelligence/numerical-and-s… https://www.packtpub.com/big-data-and-business-intelligence/learning-scipy-… Python book en Castellano (distribución gratuita): https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301293668

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contemporary Jupyter Notebooks for Python students (exhibit)
by kirby urner 29 May '18

29 May '18

A couple links to Jupyter Notebooks I'll be going over tonight, with my Python students. The focus is data science however I'm a big believer in showcasing the pandas ecosystem from the beginning. I'll mostly be in Show & Tell mode, but then take excerpts, such as my Galton Board bell curvy Pascal's Triangle thing, and bring it up in Spyder for deeper analysis. [1] https://github.com/4dsolutions/Python5/blob/master/PYT_DS_SAISOFT_MPL_01.ip… https://github.com/4dsolutions/Python5/blob/master/PYT_DS_SAISOFT_MPL_02.ip… The second one is especially focused on geospatial displays, prototypical of what high schools tackle. Kirby [1] https://github.com/4dsolutions/Python5/blob/master/STEM%20Mathematics.ipynb (scroll down for Pascal's Triangle)

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Google Colab
by kirby urner 28 May '18

28 May '18

Wes or someone may have linked to this already. Just tuned it in myself: https://colab.research.google.com/notebooks/basic_features_overview.ipynb That's Google's way of letting us use Jupyter Notebooks in the cloud and to share them on Google Drive. I see where students would benefit, not that this is the first or only cloud-based environment. Another great tool. Kirby

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Re: [Edu-sig] Open space @ PyCon
by Rae Krantz 27 May '18

27 May '18

Hi! I think I'm doing this right - we will find out. Things I was in charge of and updates! 1) teacher training at pyohio. It is too late to get this added, due to venue space restrictions. Let's plan ourt the next few conferences to target at our next meet. 2) speaking of meets, what days usually work best for people? Please reply with the days you have available evenings. Will likely set something up for 830pmEST. If you are in a time zone this wouldn't work for give a shout and we'll adapt as we go. As a recap, we should meet monthly to continue momentum. 3) I have officially joined a board of advisors for an Akron high school tech track. I am happy to share how that goes as it progresses, and be a resource to emulate what Akron is doing in other locales. This is a bit of an experiment here, spearheaded by United Way, so here's hoping it is a demonstrable success. Would love to keep this and similar things (like TEALS) as consistent discussion items in our meets. Next steps on the above (from my perspective): 1) reach out to regional python confs about adding teacher trainings 2) lay groundwork for what a teacher training at a conf would look like Great meeting you all, looking forward to making some moves. Rae > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 15 May 2018 10:28:11 -0400 > From: Jacqueline Kazil <jackiekazil(a)gmail.com> > To: edu-sig(a)python.org > Subject: [Edu-sig] Open space @ PyCon > Message-ID: > <CAKD0ODx-O+K45y04o4rvP=UeD_= > JH6WFyrpU8nQZw5xRhaDXfw(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > *Hello everyone! At PyCon 2018, I hosted a PSF + Educators space to propose > the question of what can the PSF do for educators. That session turned into > a general discussion on things the community can do. These are the > takeaways.Being worked on. These are things that people are working on > after the discussion. Not sure who is working on what though. Please > identify yourselves on the list if others want to reach you! 1. Use edu-sig > as the jumping off point for communication2. Jackie will bring back notes > from conversation to the PSF board to both inform and discuss > possibilities3. Educating Teachers ---1. Adding teaching training for > regional conferences -- although it is short notice, this is first being > tried for PyOhio2. Can we do educators track? Maybe not make the summit on > the day before, Workshop day & talk day?4. Create talking points / Press > packet1. Starting locally to converse with people and find out the needs > for a curriculum 1. Akron, OH is restructuring curriculum.5. PyEducators > created -- https://github.com/ehmatthes/pyeducators > <https://github.com/ehmatthes/pyeducators> 6. Create an inventory of > resources - This will not be the end all be all, but a jumping off point > for curation. It has to start somewhere thought. - K-5, 6-8, 9-12, and > Adult & Setting: Class, Library, after school- List of organizations, > people, etc- List of books- ^^ Will be explored by a student in Library > Science as an independent study- I *believe* this is under PyEducators, but > I am uncertainNot being worked on. These are things that came up in > discussion that are not explicitly being worked on at this time. If you > would like to help lead one of these things, please speak up. Also, please > note, that just because it was discussed it doesn't mean it will ever > happen, so let's not bike shed these points please. - ?Can the PSF have an > educational resources page? We all don?t know what is out there.?- ?We can > connect technology folks with teachers.?- https://software-carpentry.org/ > <https://software-carpentry.org/> <-- ?We get the most requests for > Python, > but our lessons need love.?- Should we have a lobby arm? - Get rid of IDLE. > Add Mu. Can the PSF get Mu in standard library?- Python booth at teacher > conferences- Get a full-time educator on PSF staff, paid for a grant just > to support thisPlease let me know if I missed anything. I am sure I did. > Also, let me know if my notes don't make sense.* > > -Jackie > > -- > Jacqueline Kazil | @jackiekazil >

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CP4E meets Geospatial Data (DGGS)
by kirby urner 27 May '18

27 May '18

I'm ramping up with Saturday Academy having met with their IT Chief regarding getting Python distro Anaconda on the schools Windows laptops, though at the moment we're thinking a Reed College Mac OSX classroom may be our venue. Next month is the target date. That's where I taught Martian Math before, but sans any Jupyter Notebooks [0]. "Martian Math" unifies two threads I've been leaving posts about this month: (A) getting into 3rd party functions around numpy, pandas and geopandas, even pre-college, looks good on a "resume" (as in "in the summer of 2018 I learned to use Jupyter Notebooks while studying geometric concepts using Python"). (B) the set of concepts I've circled in my Digital Mathematics: Heuristics for Teachers website at Wikieducator. A "glue topic" is "HP4E" named in honor of "CP4E" the latter being in some ways the raison d'être of this mailman listserv.[1] Not many schools yet have access to DGGS systems (Discrete Global Grid Systems) but we may anticipate many will in the near future. Open source appears to be moving in this direction. https://youtu.be/JWl4ZPrb5Ag (hexapent) https://www.slideshare.net/ClintonDow/dggs-python-geopython-2017 (a slide deck) Speaking of DGGS and HP4E, I got geopandas working today [2], though I first made the mistake of thinking a simple: conda install geopandas (not the right way!) was gonna work. On the contrary, you need something more like: conda create -n geopandas python=3.6 geopandas -c condo-forge (try this!) i.e. let the conda-forge repo put all the dependences in a fresh new environment. Don’t over-install on the default Anaconda distro. I see from exploring Stackoverflow and so on that a lot of developers have made this mistake. Kirby [0] https://youtu.be/vk-cpknOz9E (10 minute Youtube on the genesis of Martian Math) [1] https://www.python.org/doc/essays/cp4e/ [2] http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2018/05/geopandas.html

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Re: [Edu-sig] Open space @ PyCon
by Kevin Cole 16 May '18

16 May '18

This is an old, incomplete and probably obsolete list that I would occasionally send out to people who asked. Also Rami Chowdhury et al had a Hackpad / Etherpad that listed more resources. Formerly at https://pythondc.hackpad.com/ but I don't know if it made the leap to Dropbox Paper or was archived anywhere, or just disappeared into the aether. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Kevin Cole <dc.loco(a)gmail.com> Date: Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 12:01 PM Subject: Re: [DCPython] Intro Python Courses/Tutoring To: DCPython-list(a)meetup.com Hi, A few resources (several aimed at a very young audience): - The official *Python Tutorial* (2.7 edition and 3.2 edition) http://docs.python.org/tutorial/ http://docs.python.org/py3k/tutorial/ - *Snake Wrangling for Kids* (free ebook) by Jason R. Briggs http://www.briggs.net.nz/log/writing/snake-wrangling-for-kids/ - *Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python* (free ebook) by Al Sweigart http://inventwithpython.com/ - The *Python Bibliotheca* by Jeff Elkner http://www.openbookproject.net/pybiblio/ - *PyGame* http://www.pygame.org/ - *Python for Fun* by Chris Meyers http://openbookproject.net/py4fun/ - *How to Think Like a Computer Scientist - Learning with Python* by Jeffrey Elkner, Allen B. Downey, and Chris Meyers http://openbookproject.net/thinkcs/python/english2e/ HacDC ran an *Introduction to Python* course a while back: http://wiki.hacdc.org/index.php/Introduction_to_Python --

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Open space @ PyCon
by Jacqueline Kazil 15 May '18

15 May '18

*Hello everyone! At PyCon 2018, I hosted a PSF + Educators space to propose the question of what can the PSF do for educators. That session turned into a general discussion on things the community can do. These are the takeaways.Being worked on. These are things that people are working on after the discussion. Not sure who is working on what though. Please identify yourselves on the list if others want to reach you! 1. Use edu-sig as the jumping off point for communication2. Jackie will bring back notes from conversation to the PSF board to both inform and discuss possibilities3. Educating Teachers ---1. Adding teaching training for regional conferences -- although it is short notice, this is first being tried for PyOhio2. Can we do educators track? Maybe not make the summit on the day before, Workshop day & talk day?4. Create talking points / Press packet1. Starting locally to converse with people and find out the needs for a curriculum 1. Akron, OH is restructuring curriculum.5. PyEducators created -- https://github.com/ehmatthes/pyeducators <https://github.com/ehmatthes/pyeducators> 6. Create an inventory of resources - This will not be the end all be all, but a jumping off point for curation. It has to start somewhere thought. - K-5, 6-8, 9-12, and Adult & Setting: Class, Library, after school- List of organizations, people, etc- List of books- ^^ Will be explored by a student in Library Science as an independent study- I *believe* this is under PyEducators, but I am uncertainNot being worked on. These are things that came up in discussion that are not explicitly being worked on at this time. If you would like to help lead one of these things, please speak up. Also, please note, that just because it was discussed it doesn't mean it will ever happen, so let's not bike shed these points please. - “Can the PSF have an educational resources page? We all don’t know what is out there.”- “We can connect technology folks with teachers.”- https://software-carpentry.org/ <https://software-carpentry.org/> <-- “We get the most requests for Python, but our lessons need love.”- Should we have a lobby arm? - Get rid of IDLE. Add Mu. Can the PSF get Mu in standard library?- Python booth at teacher conferences- Get a full-time educator on PSF staff, paid for a grant just to support thisPlease let me know if I missed anything. I am sure I did. Also, let me know if my notes don't make sense.* -Jackie -- Jacqueline Kazil | @jackiekazil

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