On Sun, Apr 3, 2011 at 2:39 AM, Corey Richardson <kb1pkl@aim.com> wrote:
On 04/02/2011 02:16 PM, kirby urner wrote:
Likewise, Demented Python serves a didactic function, here to remind about the decorator:
def sillystrip( f ): if f.__doc__: f.__doc__ = "Your function has been hacked!" else: f.__doc__ = "You should always have a docstring." return f
@sillystrip def square( x ): """could also be a triangle""" return x * x
def _test(): frank = 2 joe = square (frank) # frank is kinda square print("Hello Joe, Frank here.") print(square.__doc__)
if __name__ == "__main__": _test()
Did you see the PyCon2011 video on obfuscating python? http://blip.tv/file/4881220
Just checked this out, thanks for the pointer. One of the most zany aspects was he's introduced as Rev. (Reverend) yet makes no reference to this in his biographical remarks, nor does anyone bring it up in the Q&A out of curiosity -- just not that curious I guess, or everyone already knows (Subgenius?), or no one really cares (Pycons are notoriously accepting of Diversity -- you could probably give a talk naked and no one would raise an eyebrow). I draw a vertical and horizontal axis and label these "lore" and "technical stuff" respectively, then draw a curve representing the event horizon or standard bandwidth of the listener / learner (attender). http://www.4dsolutions.net/presentations/p4t_notes.pdf (page 3) This talk (Obfuscated Python) was super-duper to the technical end with hints at lore, such as when he talks about other languages and Curry Haskell in particular (Turing Machine etc.). One hallmark of a super technical talk is you want to rewind and stare at the code. Everything seems to go by too quickly. You focus and concentrate on the technical aspects to the exclusion of all else, which comes across as a distraction (unwanted noise). When you boost the lore component, you get more storytelling and it's more like those trade books for adults that purport to explain math and/or physics but contain nary an equation, or just a few to help boost the self esteem (self confidence) of the reader. On the other hand, other types of artistry may be on display, such as foreshadowing, character development, plot twists of various kinds, tone and texture (look and feel). The humanities have their liberal arts and crafts. It's not like optimizing bandwidth is a new challenge or that symbols became powerful only in our lifetimes. Once you try to capture this stuff (hermeneutics) and teach it, you get into semantic networks, ontologies, diagrams every bit as technical... (film and theater production are not devoid of technical tips and tricks, or lets talk about advertising) so there's a kind of Mobius strip at work (the art of Paul Laffoley comes to mind, for me, at this juncture, as both technical and lore-filled). Take Sesame Street as another good example. There's really not much stress understanding the Letter A in the first place, once you've memorized your alphabet, the presumed technical content of a Sesame Street short is far from overwhelming. It's designed for stay-at-home guardians as well, who need to vacuum, putter about the house, while Big Bird holds forth. Imagine absorbing computer science concepts, along with more of STEM, from similar video clips. Youtube already offers plenty of opportunities. And yet the lore takes up plenty of bandwidth and leaves most viewers more satisfied than bored. The whole point of television is to make "day dreaming" (so necessary when chalkboards and droning pedants are involved) quasi-unnecessary. The tube replaces your dreams with its own. Of course that may serve insidious and/or subversive ends (a nation of zombies), but this doesn't detract from my point. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GN_Qv79nnI (the "cult of cute" in Japanese animation -- scatological) Upshot: Python andragogy and pedagogy will develop along different lineages. I'm pioneering zaniness as a useful component, which takes me in the direction of certain kinds of animation we might see on Python.tv someday. Vi Hart's stuff is somewhat zany, but not over the top. Mathematicians have long ties to the surreal, Alice in Wonderland being the work of a logician. OLPC gets somewhat zany in places, without paying too high a price. It's a fine line. A tinge of darkness for happy camper campfire stories: http://www.olpcnews.com/people/negroponte/olpc_cia_conspiracy_theory.html http://www.olpcnews.com/prototypes/xo/olpc_xo_icon_say.html Towards the higher end, those on the PSF list know I like to rope in Greek mythology and play up the Python's importance to Athena's cult (also Nike's: "Just Use It"). I'm roughly following what's known as the Parthenon Code among conspiracy theorists, which piggy-backs on the better known Da Vinci Code in terms of gaining name recognition and notoriety. Kirby
-- Corey Richardson _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig