Mailman 3 October 2019 - Edu-sig

Part-time opportunities for Python instructors
by Merav Yuravlivker 07 May '24

07 May '24

Hi there, My name is Merav Yuravlivker, and I'm the CEO of Data Society - we deliver data science academies to Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and other international organizations. We're currently looking for part-time Python instructors and TAs, and my friend Jackie Kazil recommended I reach out to you and your list serv. All of these opportunities can be available for people who are employed full-time, professors, or grad students. We pay well and provide all the materials for the instructor, as well as instructor training and support. If possible, would you please be able to share the following blurb? Please let me know if there is anything else you need from me. Much appreciated! Best, Merav --- Data Society, a fast-growing data science training company, is looking for awesome Python instructors and TAs! We deliver data academies to Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and international organizations. All of our content is built in-house by an expert team of data scientists and instructional designers, so you can focus on what you do best - teach professionals how to find new insights and make their jobs easier. We currently have a few openings for TAs, as well as part-time instructors - all of these opportunities can be available for people who are employed full-time, professors, or grad students. We pay competitively, have a great support team, and provide amazing opportunities for additional projects if you're interested. To learn more, please visit our page for current opportunities <https://t.sidekickopen10.com/s2t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7lM8dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJN7t5X-F…>, or simply reach out to Merav at merav(a)datasociety.com. -- Schedule a time to meet <https://t.sidekickopen10.com/s1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7lM8dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJN7t5X-F…> Merav Yuravlivker Data Society, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder 777 6th Street NW, 11th Floor Washington, D.C., 20001 Enterprise: solutions.datasociety.com Consumer: datasociety.com

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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

8 17

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

6 6

Re: Edu-sig Digest, Vol 192, Issue 9 Learn Python and what? How to teach about Context Managers (a proposal)
by Perry Grossman 31 Oct '19

31 Oct '19

Hi, Thanks, good to learn more about the context manager. I have been learning to use it as part of probabilistic programming. Here is a cursory mention of it, by Thomas Wiecki - on Probabilistic Programming Data Science with PyMC3: https://youtu.be/LlzVlqVzeD8?t=732 And here by Eric Ma: "Bayesian Data Science: Probabilistic Programming | SciPy 2019 Tutorial" https://youtu.be/2wvt6GPZl1U?t=6341 Would it be possible to share your notebook so I could play with that context manager code? I looked on your github, but did not see it: https://github.com/4dsolutions?tab=repositories Cheers, Perry On Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 12:05 PM <edu-sig-request(a)python.org> wrote: > Send Edu-sig mailing list submissions to > edu-sig(a)python.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/edu-sig.python.org/ > 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. Learn Python and what? How to teach about Context Managers (a > proposal) > (kirby urner) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2019 22:05:10 -0700 > From: kirby urner <kirby.urner(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [Edu-sig] Learn Python and what? How to teach about Context > Managers (a proposal) > To: "edu-sig(a)python.org" <edu-sig(a)python.org> > Message-ID: > <CAPJgG3T=YTK-kQWn5k7adFjAdgpV3TAsmZxB1t= > kxnb+bX3RsA(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: multipart/alternative; > boundary="0000000000000ce136059619aebb" > > --0000000000000ce136059619aebb > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" > > Suppose you got this question: > > "I'm new to programming and heard that studying two languages, one front > burner, one back burner, is a best practice, as the benefits you get from > 'compare and contrast' is like when rubbing two sticks together: you get > fire." > > I've been suggesting learning Python (front burner) and... > > Go (interfaces vs types, slices, concurrency, garbage collected, > compiled) > Rust (no garbage collection, immutability the default, learns from Python) > Clojure (LISPish, big on immutability, targets JVM) > J (successor to APL, very different, uses "parts of speech" -- as in > grammar -- as shoptalk) > JavaScript (humongous stacks and frameworks, Node world, great learning > tools) > > what else is especially apropos I wonder. Of course we run up against SQL > and regexes in the course of teaching plain vanilla Python. Ditto HTML/CSS > (more punctuation to learn in your ordinary language class, e.g. English or > French grammar? -- I call these "over the back fence technologies" in the > Youtube below). > > ------ > > On another topic, as an instructor I wonder how to introduce context > managers as a topic and my best answer is: > > Take advantage of the sqlite3 module in Standard Library and show a context > manager like: > > with DB("ufo_reports") as db: > db.useful_tool( ) > > where DB is like: > > import sqlite3 as sql > > class DB: > > def __init__(self, dbname): > self.dbname = dbname + ".db" > > def __enter__(self): > # make the connection, could be to any SQL engine... > self.conn = sql.connect(self.dbname) > self.curs = self.conn.cursor() > return self # <-- to take advantage of related tools > > def useful_tool(self): > # have a number of methods geared for working with this > # specific database, up to you how generic we're trying to be > > # more useful tools go here > > def __exit__(self, *oops): > if self.conn: > self.conn.close() > if oops[0]: > # error handling > # yadda yadda > return False # or True > return True > > I yak about all this on Youtube. > > https://youtu.be/29p3Ckr8SOA > > Kirby > > --0000000000000ce136059619aebb > Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8" > Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable > > <div dir=3D"ltr"><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-family:arial,he= > lvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > = > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">Suppose > yo= > u got this question:</div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-family= > :arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div > class=3D"gmail_= > default" > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">&= > quot;I'm new to programming and heard that studying two languages, one > = > front burner, one back burner, is a best practice, as the benefits you get > = > from 'compare and contrast' is like when rubbing two sticks > togethe= > r:=C2=A0you get fire."</div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font= > -family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div > class=3D= > "gmail_default" > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:s= > mall">I've been suggesting learning Python (front burner) > and...</div><= > div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif= > ;font-size:small"><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-fami= > ly:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">Go=C2=A0 =C2=A0 > =C2=A0(inter= > faces vs types, slices, concurrency, garbage collected, compiled)=C2=A0=C2= > =A0</div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,= > sans-serif;font-size:small">Rust=C2=A0 (no garbage collection, > immutability= > the default, learns from Python)</div><div class=3D"gmail_default" style= > =3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">Clojure > (LISPis= > h, big on immutability, targets JVM)</div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > styl= > e=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">J=C2=A0 > (succe= > ssor to APL, very different, uses "parts of speech" -- as in > gram= > mar -- as shoptalk)</div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-family:= > arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">JavaScript (humongous stacks > an= > d frameworks, Node world, great learning tools)</div><div > class=3D"gmail_de= > fault" > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br= > ></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sa= > ns-serif;font-size:small">what else is especially apropos I wonder.=C2=A0 > O= > f course we run up against SQL and regexes in the course of teaching plain > = > vanilla Python. Ditto HTML/CSS (more punctuation to learn in your ordinary > = > language class, e.g. English or French grammar? -- I call these "over > = > the back fence technologies" in the Youtube below).</div><div > class=3D= > "gmail_default" > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:s= > mall"><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-family:arial,hel= > vetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">------</div><div > class=3D"gmail_default"= > > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></div= > ><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-ser= > if;font-size:small">On another topic, as an instructor I wonder how to > intr= > oduce context managers as a topic and my best answer is:</div><div > class=3D= > "gmail_default" > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:s= > mall"><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-family:arial,hel= > vetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">Take advantage of the sqlite3 module in > = > Standard Library and show a context manager like:</div><div > class=3D"gmail_= > default" > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><= > br></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-size:small"><font face= > =3D"monospace">with DB("ufo_reports") as db:</font></div><div > cla= > ss=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-size:small"><font > face=3D"monospace">=C2= > =A0 =C2=A0 db.useful_tool( )</font></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style= > =3D"font-size:small"><font face=3D"monospace"><br></font></div><div class= > =3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-size:small"><font face=3D"arial, > sans-seri= > f">where DB is like:</font></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font= > -size:small"><font face=3D"monospace"><br></font></div><div > class=3D"gmail_= > default" style=3D"font-size:small"><font face=3D"monospace">import sqlite3 > = > as sql</font></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-size:small"><= > font face=3D"monospace"><br></font></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style= > =3D"font-size:small"><font face=3D"monospace">class DB:</font></div><div > cl= > ass=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-size:small"><font > face=3D"monospace"><b= > r></font></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-size:small"><font= > face=3D"monospace">=C2=A0 =C2=A0 def __init__(self, > dbname):</font></div><= > div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-size:small"><font > face=3D"monospa= > ce">=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 self.dbname =3D dbname=C2=A0+ > ".db&quo= > t;</font></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-size:small"><font= > face=3D"monospace"><br></font></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"= > font-size:small"><font face=3D"monospace">=C2=A0 =C2=A0 def > __enter__(self)= > :</font></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-size:small"><font > = > face=3D"monospace">=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 # make the connection, > could= > be to any SQL engine...</font></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"= > font-size:small"><font face=3D"monospace">=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 > self.= > conn =3D sql.connect(self.dbname)</font></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > = > style=3D"font-size:small"><font face=3D"monospace">=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 > =C2= > =A0 self.curs =3D self.conn.cursor()</font></div><div > class=3D"gmail_defaul= > t" style=3D"font-size:small"><font face=3D"monospace">=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 > = > =C2=A0 return self=C2=A0 # <-- to take advantage of related > tools</font>= > </div><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-size:small"><font > face=3D"= > monospace"><br></font></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-size= > :small"><font face=3D"monospace">=C2=A0 =C2=A0 def > useful_tool(self):</font= > ></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-size:small"><font > face=3D= > "monospace">=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 # have a number of methods geared > f= > or working with this</font></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font= > -size:small"><font face=3D"monospace">=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 # > specifi= > c database, up to you how generic we're trying to be</font></div><div > c= > lass=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-size:small"><font > face=3D"monospace"><= > br></font></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-size:small"><fon= > t face=3D"monospace">=C2=A0 =C2=A0 # more useful tools go > here</font></div>= > <div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-size:small"><font > face=3D"monosp= > ace"><br></font></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-size:small= > "><font face=3D"monospace">=C2=A0 =C2=A0 def __exit__(self, > *oops):</font><= > /div><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-size:small"><font > face=3D"m= > onospace">=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 if self.conn:</font></div><div class= > =3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-size:small"><font face=3D"monospace">=C2= > =A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 self.conn.close()</font></div><div > c= > lass=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-size:small"><font face=3D"monospace">= > =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 if oops[0]:</font></div><div > class=3D"gmail_def= > ault" style=3D"font-size:small"><font face=3D"monospace">=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2= > =A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 # error handling</font></div><div > class=3D"gmail_d= > efault" style=3D"font-size:small"><font face=3D"monospace">=C2=A0 =C2=A0 = > =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 # yadda yadda</font></div><div > class=3D"gmail_d= > efault" style=3D"font-size:small"><font face=3D"monospace">=C2=A0 =C2=A0 = > =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 return False # or True</font></div><div class= > =3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-size:small"><font face=3D"monospace">=C2= > =A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 return True</font></div><div > class=3D"gmail_defaul= > t" > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></d= > iv><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-s= > erif;font-size:small">I yak about all this on Youtube.</div><div > class=3D"g= > mail_default" > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:sma= > ll"><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-family:arial,helve= > tica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><a href=3D"https://youtu.be/29p3Ckr8SOA > ">h= > ttps://youtu.be/29p3Ckr8SOA</a><br></div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style= > =3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div > = > class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;fon= > t-size:small">Kirby</div><div class=3D"gmail_default" > style=3D"font-family:= > arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div > class=3D"gmail_d= > efault" > style=3D"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><b= > r></div></div> > > --0000000000000ce136059619aebb-- > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list -- edu-sig(a)python.org > To unsubscribe send an email to edu-sig-leave(a)python.org > https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/edu-sig.python.org/ > > > ------------------------------ > > End of Edu-sig Digest, Vol 192, Issue 9 > *************************************** >

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Learn Python and what? How to teach about Context Managers (a proposal)
by kirby urner 30 Oct '19

30 Oct '19

Suppose you got this question: "I'm new to programming and heard that studying two languages, one front burner, one back burner, is a best practice, as the benefits you get from 'compare and contrast' is like when rubbing two sticks together: you get fire." I've been suggesting learning Python (front burner) and... Go (interfaces vs types, slices, concurrency, garbage collected, compiled) Rust (no garbage collection, immutability the default, learns from Python) Clojure (LISPish, big on immutability, targets JVM) J (successor to APL, very different, uses "parts of speech" -- as in grammar -- as shoptalk) JavaScript (humongous stacks and frameworks, Node world, great learning tools) what else is especially apropos I wonder. Of course we run up against SQL and regexes in the course of teaching plain vanilla Python. Ditto HTML/CSS (more punctuation to learn in your ordinary language class, e.g. English or French grammar? -- I call these "over the back fence technologies" in the Youtube below). ------ On another topic, as an instructor I wonder how to introduce context managers as a topic and my best answer is: Take advantage of the sqlite3 module in Standard Library and show a context manager like: with DB("ufo_reports") as db: db.useful_tool( ) where DB is like: import sqlite3 as sql class DB: def __init__(self, dbname): self.dbname = dbname + ".db" def __enter__(self): # make the connection, could be to any SQL engine... self.conn = sql.connect(self.dbname) self.curs = self.conn.cursor() return self # <-- to take advantage of related tools def useful_tool(self): # have a number of methods geared for working with this # specific database, up to you how generic we're trying to be # more useful tools go here def __exit__(self, *oops): if self.conn: self.conn.close() if oops[0]: # error handling # yadda yadda return False # or True return True I yak about all this on Youtube. https://youtu.be/29p3Ckr8SOA Kirby

1 0