Mailman 3 - Edu-sig - python.org

teaching kids (and adults) with Python: notes from the field
by kirby urner Aug. 25, 2019

Aug. 25, 2019

Shared Project Space What I think works well is when the students in the class have their own shared virtual classroom in which to share Python projects. These need not be accessible to the public (people not in the class), but having real time access to each others' projects -- those voluntarily shared -- creates community and a sense of shared work. In the meantime, every student gets a private area in which to work on projects that aren't shared. These may be stored in the cloud, with no software locally installed other than a capable browser. Or not (local installation of software may be a selling feature). When it's BYOD, remind students that they get to upgrade own computer, versus leaving the cloud-based workshop with nothing installed. Integrated Graphics Turtle graphics were a breakthrough in the sense that something graphical was brought into the projects. Pythonic turtles, as objects, controlled by code, don't become irrelevant when the math becomes more complex.[0] If you're able to go from 2D to 3D, so much the better. Vpython anyone? Save Branches, Explore... At one end of the spectrum, we have "march them through" drills wherein all students are expected to enter the same code and reap the same rewards, a working something. Another approach, somewhat similar, is to hand them the working something, and then dissect the code. Work from both directions? At the other end of the spectrum, one shows them "new tricks" (e.g. event listening) and then "turns them loose" to explore. This is where the shared project space comes in. Look over the shoulders of your peers, at what they willingly share. Remix. Comment. In testing new features one creates "exhibits" (like museum exhibits) that "show off" said features. Save these as such and then reuse them by copying forward, to make more elaborate exhibits, up to (including) games. Games may be shared in completed or part-way form in the classroom pool (back to the other end of the spectrum). Rather than insist on always frequenting one place on this spectrum, feel free to vary the diet. March through code a little bit. Then show a feature with completed shared code. Then turn them loose to experiment (that could mean the teacher stops talking, but keeps using the shared chat stream). Hands On Given students opportunities to share code means giving them time to ponder and write code. The lecture format assumes students will work offline later. The tutorial or workshop approach assumes the students have time to workout (practice) during the session. Most of my suggestions above imply time during class in which to create and share work. I'm recommending the hands-on workshop mode over the lecture mode in this case. In my four hour twice a week format, we have three 20 minute labs per meetup. In my summer school for kids format, we would often have 20-30 minute intervals for discovery and exploration. We had 2.25 hour meetups. [1] Shared Chat Stream Even when my students are all in the same room, physically, I encourage using the chat window, a scrolling record I might study in more depth later, alluding back to it the next time we meet. In the stereotypical historical classroom "note passing" is discouraged by the teacher, but in this case the convention is flipped and the teacher participates in the chatter, a way to have synchronous commentary that's not disruptive of the audio track. Students may share URLs. I encourage them to log the chat. Recent examples (School of Tomorrow playlist): https://youtu.be/kBjZb-RrgLY (re phasors...) https://youtu.be/n57W4BSdx1k (exercising a "fire at intervals" feature) These specific examples are Codesters-centric (codesters.com), however my above summary is not premised on using any specific platform, nor even language (though I specify Python, this being edu-sig after all). Codesters is modeled on MIT Scratch in many ways. Platforms such as REPL.it have a classroom feature (with which I'm presently less familiar). Note: if a coder is making the transition from block-based Scratch to Python or other lexical (as in non-graphical) language, and finding it painful, I will sometimes recommend doodling in Scratch while auditing the Python part. My emphasis on integrated graphics (above) is against the current backdrop of many coming to Python by way of MIT Scratch as a first development environment. I can well imagine a scenario wherein a teleteacher encourages a virtual classroom of students to establish their own REPL.it accounts and then share with one another by pasting URLs to the Zoom chat window (Zoom being video-audio meetup software). I may try doing this myself. These Youtubes are similar to what I'd be sharing during a live teleteaching gig, such as we did this summer, me in Portland, the middle school students in Illinois in their own classroom (Carl Sandburg College computer lab). [2] I also pick student projects out of the shared pool and talk about them "in front of" the class (shared monitors), something I'm not doing in either example. Kirby Notes: [0] If adults have a problem with "turtles" call them "tractors" (a joke I make in Pythonic Andragogy). Seriously, I'm looking at adult topics such as AC current and Steinmetz phasors using complex numbers, with nothing more than turtles er tractors in Codesters. [1] My next such Codesters-based middle schooler teleteaching gig is in Nevada I believe. I'll be doing Spyder and Jupyter Notebooks with adults in California. However I often show Codesters to adult Python learners, which connects me back to the more "grown up" topics of AC current and related "grid talk" (a common feature in my several playlists). [2] As a Youtube character, I adopt many of the conventions of the genre (dress code etc.), helping to carve out a mnemonic niche, as one more educational video clown (memorable teacher). I've been influenced by Coding Train among others. Lots of great Python teaching going on. Shout out to Socratica.

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Searching for volunteers to user test PyPI.org
by Nicole Harris Aug. 16, 2019

Aug. 16, 2019

Hi folks, My name is Nicole - I work on PyPI.org, which is the principal repository for sharing Python packages. I am searching for new Pythonistas to help me user test some new security features on the website - specifically enabling/disabling two factor authentication. The point of these tests is to make sure that the new PyPI interfaces are easy to understand for people who are *not* experienced PyPI.org users. Things needed to participate: - An internet connection that is fast enough to be able to share screens - A smart phone on which we can install a TOTP application (most Androids or iPhones should work just fine) - 30 minutes to donate to the PyPI team Things *not* needed to participate: - Experience using PyPI.org (in fact, the less experience, the better) - An active PyPI account (we can set this up during the test) - Python experience If this is interesting to you, or members of your community, please sign up here: calendly.com/nlhkabu/pypi Thanks for your time! Nicole

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Module for writing a new type of exercises for programming tutorials
by Claude SIMON Aug. 8, 2019

Aug. 8, 2019

Hello, everyone. I am in contact with teachers who will have to teach programming at the beginning of the next school year. It's going to be as part of a mandatory computer course, so they're going to be dealing with students who aren't necessarily very motivated. They are therefore looking for a way to make this course as interesting as possible. The language is imposed, but, good news, it will be Python (version 3, probably). However, at the sight of the existing tutorials, whether they are written in Python or in another language, their main fear comes from the fact that the exercises have a text-based interface. Nowadays, almost all young people have a smartphone, so they are used to graphical interfaces. They have rarely, if ever, had to deal with a text console. Writing programs with a textual interface, they may (falsely) find this outdated and therefore not very motivating. Therefore, I am currently working on a Python module that will allow to design exercises, not with a text-based interface, but with a web interface. An exercise consists, for the studentq, in writing a program that solves a certain task. To check that the program is working properly, they will have to modify its parameters. This is usually done by modifying these parameters directly in the source code, or by entering their value at runtime with the help of 'input(...)' instructions. With a web interface, they will have a real graphical interface to enter the values of the different parameters. This is much more convenient, and also much closer to what they are used to with their smartphones. The module is designed in such a way that, as soon as the program corresponding to the exercise is launched, a web browser automatically opens to give access to the interface of the program. In addition, the student will be able to open the URL of the program on its smartphone, or even send this URL to its friends/parents/teachers/whoever, so they can use its program on their own device. So that you can see what it looks like and how it works, here is the address where you will find some examples of exercises based on this module: https://q37.info/s/tpkx4cfk . Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. I am also looking for content that I could adapt using the module, so that I can provide a set of ready-to-use exercises to teachers who need them. There is a lot of such content, but I have a little trouble choosing, knowing that the purpose of the exercises will be, not the learning of Python, but the learning of programming. Any help will also be welcome. Regards, -- Claude SIMON (http://q37.info)

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exploring a primitive physics engine in emulated Python
by kirby urner Aug. 1, 2019

Aug. 1, 2019

What other Python emulators offer some builtin physics? Example startup code (no imports required): stage.set_gravity(3) escaped = False stage.disable_ceiling() stage.set_background_color("black") b = 1 stage.set_bounce(b) Codesters embraces turtle graphics but takes it to the next level by providing: (a) gravity (numeric) (b) sprite-level physics (on or off) (c) bounciness (numeric) (d) whether walls are bouncy (enable / disable) (e) collision detection (callback function) Adding these features requires an event loop type architecture, which Codesters keeps cleverly hidden i.e. there's no low level asyncio work required by students. We do have callback we can fire at set intervals (a user setting). I make full use of this interval in the first two videos (link below), as I experiment with some of the parameters mentioned above. Example 1: Escape Velocity def interval(): global escaped pos = sprite.get_y() if pos > 100 and not escaped: escaped = True sprite.set_gravity_off() sprite.say("Escape velocity achieved") sprite.set_x_speed(0.2 * sprite.get_x_speed()) sprite.set_y_speed(0.2 * sprite.get_y_speed()) Example 2: Bounce World def interval(): global b stage.set_bounce(b) b = b - 0.3 Changing bounciness has some perhaps unexpected effects when it goes negative. Absolute value is what matters. The last video (3 of 3) goes back to the Powerpoint / slideshow potential that develops once importing png, gif, jpg "sprites" over the internet is in the picture. Codesters supports that. MIT Scratch offers this capability as well. The ability to import graphics is popular with kids, however usually not at first in the context of making slideshows. Most of them have yet to be put on the spot to do Powerpoint or any of those. However developing one's show and tell presentation skills is a big part of learning I'd say. Extending the Show & Tell protocol to include slide sharing is what Ignite is/was all about, right? Do people still stage Ignite events? Those were cool! What I need to do more of in Codesters: explore sound effects. I wrote all the parents in my class after OSCON that Codesters didn't have sound. Then, duh, I found it. During demo day I encouraged looking in to that feature. This was at Carl Sandburg College in Illinois, me connecting remotely from two time zones away, from Portland. None of the videos curated here were actually used during that summer camp (I didn't show any Youtubes, either by me or anyone else, during the actual 2.25 hour meetups -- but I did recommend some for followup [1]). These give the flavor of the kind of thing we were doing: http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2019/07/computing-surface-workouts.html My apologies for missing the Python booth at OSCON this year. I saw the stuffed snake, more sensibly sized than mega-sized Naga, our mascot emeritus. https://flic.kr/p/26wac5J (Naga, I still have her, and should eventually donate her to the Python Language exhibit -- might be some rooms in a bigger Languages Museum right?). Kirby [1] for middle school aged kids I often recommend Python tutorials by Socratica on Youtube. Also 'Warriors of the Net' an ancient classic about packet switching (the TCP/IP layer). https://youtu.be/PBWhzz_Gn10 I also showed Math Adventures with Python by Peter Farrell which typifies the need any math student will have for a bigger screen. Peter's book includes rotation matrices applied against polyhedrons, as my curriculum does. No sense tackling matrix math on a scientific calculator right? Even if it's possible.

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school of tomorrow (another pilot)
by kirby urner July 24, 2019

July 24, 2019

Latest School of Tomorrow 5 min video, recapping some of what we've been doing in summer school in 2019. I've done similar pilots at Reed College. This time we're in Illinois. https://youtu.be/5_NWt_zjdcw (Codesters again) The kids (I have 15 on my roster) need to understand why a flight to China would go north, not west. In addition to learning Python. Actually, Python emulated in JavaScript. The Physics Engine is primitive, but having gravity, bouncy walls, speed variables on each sprite, collision detection, is a still a boon. Getting into physics this way makes sense to me. Kirby Related links: http://wikieducator.org/Digital_Math (parked the source in New Zealand) https://nbviewer.jupyter.org/github/4dsolutions/School_of_Tomorrow/blob/mas… (includes same video)

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super easy network programming
by Kent Tong July 21, 2019

July 21, 2019

Dear friends I have enhanced my Python learning environment so that even absolute beginners can do network communication in a breeze and create really fun effects (e.g., simple network games)! See the video here: https://youtu.be/QrNkx2SEiP4 A free version is available on https://www.istudycenter.org/yes-kids-can-learn-python -- Kent Tong IT author and consultant, child education coach

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Two new projects of potential interest
by Andre Roberge July 13, 2019

July 13, 2019

Hello everyone, For the past few weeks I have been working on two projects that may potentially be of interest to you. The first project is called friendly-traceback. I assume that, at one point or another, everyone on this list has taught beginners who were totally confused by Python tracebacks. Friendly-traceback aims to greatly reduce this confusion. As a bonus for international users, friendly-traceback has been designed from the start to be translatable; currently, only two languages are supported (English and French). There is much more to be done, but it is usable right now. You can find the documentation at https://aroberge.github.io/friendly-traceback-docs/docs/html/ Friendly-traceback has been carved out of a larger project named AvantPy. For English speakers, AvantPy can be thought of as standard Python + friendly-traceback + a few additional keywords that aim to reduce (slightly) the learning curve for some concepts. For non-English speakers, AvantPy makes it possible to run a "Python dialect" where Python's keywords are replaced by keywords written in a different language; currently there is a French and a Spanish version, both in draft forms. You can find the documentation at https://aroberge.github.io/avantpy/docs/html/index.html Both project are usable *right now*, even though they are admittedly incomplete. I would very much appreciate it if you could have a look at them, either just by reading the documentation or, even better, by trying to run the code, and give me some feedback. Of course, if you want to do more than simply give feedback and actually want to contribute some code samples or additional translations, that would certainly be welcome as well! :-) Pythonically yours, André Roberge

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Migrating edu-sig to Mailman3/HyperKitty
by Wes Turner July 11, 2019

July 11, 2019

What say we migrate edu-sig to mm3? ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: *Victor Stinner* <vstinner(a)redhat.com> Date: Wednesday, June 5, 2019 Subject: [Python-Dev] python-ideas and python-dev migrated to Mailman 3/HyperKitty To: python-dev <python-dev(a)python.org> Hi, Our kind postmasters Mark Sapiro and Abhilash Raj migrated python-ideas and python-dev mailing lists from Mailman 2 to Mailman 3 (running on Python 3 ;-))! You can now enjoy HyperKitty, the new web UI to access the mailing lists: https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-dev@python.org/ and https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-ideas@python.org/ Enhancements: * Ability to post an email directly on the web UI (open a new topic or reply to an existing topic) * Nicer "archives": profile photo (gravatar), thread view * New "Most Active" and "Most Popular" views of mailing lists * Statistics (note: it seems like stats on python-dev are not computed yet) * Single login/password to subscribe to multiple Python mailing lists * Simpler UI to subscribe/unsubscribe * More reliable "permalink" URLs to emails * And more! Many lists already migrated: speed, capi-sig, python-committers, etc. All lists hosted by Mailman3: https://mail.python.org/archives/ -- There are also http://discuss.python.org/ and https://python.zulipchat.com/ to discuss Python ;-) Victor -- Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. _______________________________________________ Python-Dev mailing list -- python-dev(a)python.org To unsubscribe send an email to python-dev-leave(a)python.org %(web_page_url)slistinfo/%(_internal_name)s Unsubscribe: %(user_optionsurl)s

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Calculator of Tomorrow (meme) on Medium
by kirby urner July 11, 2019

July 11, 2019

The Medium curators selected this one for widespread dissemination: https://medium.com/@kirbyurner/the-calculator-of-tomorrow-39ba87763621 It's on my usual theme: giving high schoolers a more significant experience by ditching scientific calculators in favor of "the calculator of tomorrow". I.e. instead of a "graphing calculator" we use pandas. The "of tomorrow" meme is retro futurism. Remember EPCOT? Now it's Epcot. Kirby

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anyone going to OSCON?
by kirby urner July 11, 2019

July 11, 2019

I met only a few Pythonistas at OSCON last year. Van Lindberg and I had a brief conversation. Naomi, will I see you there? I've got a hallway track topic I'd like to pursue. http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2019/07/open-source-campus.html Kirby

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