Mailman 3 May 2021 - 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

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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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What countries have Python in official high school curriculum?
by Jurgis Pralgauskis 04 Jan '22

04 Jan '22

Hi again :) we want to promote Python in my small country (Lithuania), In high-schools we officially have Pascal (for 30years) and C++ (for 10years) now -- as it is accepted in final IT/programming exam (and olymiads). I know that it is not common to have programming exam, but still if you know some (esp, big) countries commonly using it while teaching - please let know :) Thanks -- Jurgis Pralgauskis tel: 8-616 77613; Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;) https://galvosukykla.wordpress.com/

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Karel robot interactive tasks
by Jurgis Pralgauskis 19 May '21

19 May '21

Idea similar to reeborg.ca, but more lightweight - it is setup with js code: https://petlja.org/biblioteka/r/lekcije/TxtProgInPythonEng/01_karel-01_kare… src: https://github.com/Petlja/TxtProgInPythonEng/search?q=karel -- Jurgis Pralgauskis tel: 8-616 77613; Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;)

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following up on edu summit (pycon 2021)
by kirby urner 13 May '21

13 May '21

Greetings all. Good to see some of you at the Edu Summit. Many thank you to the organizers for allowing me to join in the end. Andre gave a fabulous talk on friendly, the enhanced, multi-lingual traceback explainer. My lightning talk came at the end. For those who couldn't be there, I'm fleshing it out a bit more on Youtube -- still in under 5 minutes. https://youtu.be/B9CvWok7SgU Lightning Talk (in connection with Edu Summit, Pycon 2021) We talked a lot about data science, wherein data visualization is key. Everyone wants to learn pandas. My own curriculum development efforts, informed by real experience teaching at these grade levels, focuses on a different kind of "graph", namely the polyhedrons (edges, nodes...) and 3D graphics more generally. That's another kind of visualization, as distinct from data visualization, that computers are in principle good at. We can get there with Python, with Blender perhaps, so another ray tracer solution.[1] However we still integrate well with data science and such, as such tabular structures as provided by pandas & SQL provide a logical way to store our polyhedrons. Relationally. With edges and vertices stored separately from the summary rows i.e. the actual polys by name ("cube"), with V, F, E (8, 6, 12), maybe relative volumes [2], and tags, like Platonic, Archimedean, Johnson, Uniform, Space-Filler, Dual of [ ] etc. etc. Kirby [1] e.g. check out Adrian's anti-prism which I've compiled for a Raspberry Pi. Not written in Python, but does output in .pov format for rendering, which is what a lot of my scripts also do. A great way to learn XYZ coordinates and more, no? http://www.antiprism.com/ [2] https://nbviewer.jupyter.org/github/4dsolutions/Python5/blob/master/Polyvol…

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Looking forward to Pycon, although Education Summit is full
by kirby urner 04 May '21

04 May '21

I did a proposal for Pycon really early, then realized the Education Summit was separate. Now the latter is full and closed. I'm in the Trainers' Summit, but the Education Summit is full. Even to those of us who would just listen on Zoom? Oh well, good thing I turned my presentations in Youtube videos. I had a feeling I wouldn't actually get conference time. Here they are: https://youtu.be/rhrITxrRRyA https://youtu.be/hsGfcqhaPd8 I tend to always be focused on the same themes, where I imagine I have some competitive advantage maybe? Maybe I'll connect with some of you around the edges of said Education Summit, which I used to help plan in the early days. Kirby

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