re Python's "batteries included" meme

As I watch students struggle with the: if __name__ == "__main__": concept (where to put it, what it does), it occurs to me we could be doing more to leverage the already well-worn "batteries included." What's different about Python? The rich libraries it comes with, including a cross-platform GUI IDE. That's one meaning of "batteries included". But in another sense we could speak of the generic module as a "battery" with the "if run top-level" logic having to do with battery *testing*. ==== python module ==== [ BATTERIES ] (functions, classes, global-to-module names...) if __name__ == "__main__": [ BATTERY TESTERS ] ==================== That changes the meaning a little more, to where each Python module is like "a battery pack" with its own set of "testers". One thing we do with battery packs is we "import" (promote) their internals within a top-level namespace that starts off in some other (alien) module. Another thing we do with battery packs is run them top-level namespaces on their own, perhaps depending on imports (outsourced resources). I'm not suggesting harping on this too much, just another slide that goes by, but a fun mnemonic, and reinforcing of an already approved / useful design pattern (see my previous post in this edu-sig archive for an example of this self-testing style, relying on doctest for services). Kirby

NEW: Blogs, Videos and Donorschoose! Please enjoy my blogs on Midterm Week (installing SAGE and Ubuntu) and Course Selection Week (Recruiting for next year)! http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com Here's some new Algebra II Trig and preCalculus related screen-casts (Law of Sines, Law of Cosines)! http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009 Take a look at my latest DonorsChoose project (new Tablet PC for SmartBoarding and ScreenCasting)! http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=520470&challengeid=32688&more=true HTH, A. Jorge Garcia Applied Math and CompSci http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009

On Sun, Feb 6, 2011 at 5:48 PM, A. Jorge Garcia <calcpage@aol.com> wrote:
NEW: Blogs, Videos and Donorschoose!
Please enjoy my blogs on Midterm Week (installing SAGE and Ubuntu) and Course Selection Week (Recruiting for next year)! http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
FLOSS = Free Linux Open Source Software? Hadn't heard that, clever. I like the stuff on primes in SAGE. Does SAGE let us do generators? No doubt. Projected Python: http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315@N00/5419722514/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315@N00/5419119093/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315@N00/5419125705/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315@N00/5419755072/in/photostream/
Here's some new Algebra II Trig and preCalculus related screen-casts (Law of Sines, Law of Cosines)! http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
Eew, a calculator. No wait, I'm trying to be pro calculator these days: http://groups.google.com/group/mathfuture/msg/a3b22bd4f2255ac9?hl=en http://groups.google.com/group/mathfuture/browse_thread/thread/bd7ee358e7d1c... (suggests emulating calculators as a premier genre when learning to program) http://xkcd.com/768/
Take a look at my latest DonorsChoose project (new Tablet PC for SmartBoarding and ScreenCasting)!
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=520470&challengeid=32688&more=true
Very enterprising and good for showing off software designed to power charitable giving, something I think about a lot vis-a-vis my "Coffee Shops Network" (featuring games that let you be a hero, winning funds for worthy charities -- your donor profile may become a walking-your-talk credential of sorts). Kirby
HTH, A. Jorge Garcia Applied Math and CompSci http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
_______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig

Please enjoy my latest blogs! http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/03/great-computer-science-vs-computin... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/03/birthdays-and-pheasants.html http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/02/nova-nova-everywhere.html http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-21st-century-math-classroom.htm... Here's some new Algebra II Trig and preCalculus related screen-casts (Conics and Polar Mode)! http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009 HTH, A. Jorge Garcia Applied Math and CompSci http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009

Please enjoy my latest blogs! http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/04/updates-updates-and-then-more-upda... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/04/yes-veronica-you-to-can-you-tube.h... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/03/edmodo-update-social-network-for-y... http://cistheta.blogspot.com/2011/03/cistheta-meeting-xii-2010-2011_26.html Here's some new preCalculus screen-casts (Matrices, Non Linear Systems, Linear Programming)! http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009 Here's some documentaries I copies from old VHS tapes for YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/cistheta2007 HTH, A. Jorge Garcia Applied Math and CompSci http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009

Please enjoy my latest blogs about Learning and Teaching Math and Computing with technology! http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/05/2-so-many-hard-drives-so-little-ti... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/05/smartboard-on-linux-they-said-it-c... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/04/science-fact-fiction-conventions-2... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/04/conventions-conferences-art-shows-... Please enjoy my latest blogs about Computing Independent Study class building a Linux Cluster! http://cistheta.blogspot.com/2011/02/cistheta-meeting-x-2010-2011_309.html http://cistheta.blogspot.com/2011/03/cistheta-meeting-xi-2010-2011_11.html http://cistheta.blogspot.com/2011/03/cistheta-meeting-xii-2010-2011_26.html http://cistheta.blogspot.com/2011/04/cistheta-meeting-xiii-2010-2011-instant... Here's my new preCalculus screen-casts (starting Calculus)! http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009 Here's some math and computer songs my studemts made for YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/cistheta2007 Here's my current DonorsChoose project! http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=520470&challengeid=32688#materials Thanx, A. Jorge Garcia Applied Math and CompSci http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009

Please enjoy my latest blogs about Learning and Teaching Math and Computing with technology! http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/06/is-there-life-after-calculus.html http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/06/chief-reader-rosenstein-vs-betty-s... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/05/smartboards-flatscreens-and-ideapa... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/05/httpappinventorgooglelabscom-and.h... Here's my new preCalculus screen-casts (starting Calculus)! http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009 Here's some math and computer songs my studemts made for YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/cistheta2007 Here's my current DonorsChoose project! http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=520470&challengeid=32688#materials Thanx, A. Jorge Garcia Applied Math and CompSci http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009

Lots of great links here. Was surfing around, 1 degree of separation, and came across this excellent Ignite talk: http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009#p/f/23/t3IP_FmGams (about restoring an Archimedes text from like an overwritten hard drive -- fortunately, it was analog (a book)). Such great educational opportunities at the click of a mouse. Thanks for all the value added. Collecting worthy finds is always a help to others. Kirby On Sat, Jun 11, 2011 at 2:51 PM, A. Jorge Garcia <calcpage@aol.com> wrote:
Please enjoy my latest blogs about Learning and Teaching Math and Computing with technology! http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/06/is-there-life-after-calculus.html
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/06/chief-reader-rosenstein-vs-betty-s...
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/05/smartboards-flatscreens-and-ideapa...
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/05/httpappinventorgooglelabscom-and.h...
Here's my new preCalculus screen-casts (starting Calculus)! http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
Here's some math and computer songs my studemts made for YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/cistheta2007
Here's my current DonorsChoose project!
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=520470&challengeid=32688#materials
Thanx, A. Jorge Garcia Applied Math and CompSci http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009

Here's my blogs about Learning and Teaching Math and Computing with technology! http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/07/taking-show-on-road.html http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/08/flipping-classroom-to-flip-or-not-... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/06/screencasting-101-to-be-or-not-to-... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/08/fare-thee-well-summer-session-ii.h... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/08/fare-thee-well-summer-session-ii-p... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/08/fare-thee-well-summer-session-ii-p... Here's my preCalculus, Calculus and CompSci screen-casts! http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009 Here's some math and computer songs my studemts made for YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/cistheta2007#g/c/8E2A8DE4C0DA6B2A http://www.youtube.com/cistheta2007#g/c/FBA85F4CD27E8D4A Here's some computer documentaries I saved from crumbling VHS tapes for YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/cistheta2007#g/c/35534A5E32FB49A4 Thanx, A. Jorge Garcia Applied Math and CompSci http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009

On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 4:59 PM, A. Jorge Garcia <calcpage@aol.com> wrote:
Here's my blogs about Learning and Teaching Math and Computing with technology! http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/07/taking-show-on-road.html
Really glad you're collecting and posting these in one place. Great to getting a read on technology in the classroom, as used by a pro who also bucks the system, doesn't sucker for vendor lock-in at every turn e.g. knows free Ubuntu has viable real time desktop capturing mp4 capability.
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/08/flipping-classroom-to-flip-or-not-...
( might be a mistake in the Java on this one myBody += myBody + etc.)
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/06/screencasting-101-to-be-or-not-to-... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/08/fare-thee-well-summer-session-ii.h... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/08/fare-thee-well-summer-session-ii-p... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/08/fare-thee-well-summer-session-ii-p...
My storyboard school in the Oregon high desert (branch campus) is quite bicycle centric, with students coming back with lots of data. Bicycles and riders are likely equipped with sensors, are outfitted for GPS navigation. Two of our cyclers just came back from Yamhill county, 4 days in farm and forest lands, harvesting data (this is real, not storyboard). GIS was used, but no real time GPS this time, and no sensors were left behind. Tags: Project Earthala, Dignity Village, EPCOT West, XRL (eXtremely Remote Living) The goal is to build up an electronic, interactive representation of the surrounding ecosystem and to use it in association with county engineers to implement various new energy harvesting technologies, such as the solar steam dish from Infinia (sterling engine), various dwelling machine solutions (or call them tents, yurts or whatever). Note: urban schools may accept the same challenge. Urban geocaching is already a recognized sport. A professor from Rochester and I had a long talk with the CTO of Immersive Media (Portland office) about their back pack dodeca-cams, not unlike those on Google Cars. The files generated by these things (devices) go to the school's rack for stitching together in student-faculty designed mashups. As an intranet, our installation closely models a GIS shop, perhaps with ESRI products (a Python angle). Imagine hiking trails tagged with immersive media files such that campsites might be viewed "on tape" even just by dialing in coordinates, or hitting a blip on the map (shared / projected). Yes, like Picassa.
Here's my preCalculus, Calculus and CompSci screen-casts! http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
Here's some math and computer songs my studemts made for YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/cistheta2007#g/c/8E2A8DE4C0DA6B2A http://www.youtube.com/cistheta2007#g/c/FBA85F4CD27E8D4A
Here's some computer documentaries I saved from crumbling VHS tapes for YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/cistheta2007#g/c/35534A5E32FB49A4
Thanx, A. Jorge Garcia Applied Math and CompSci http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
Our "math is an outdoor sport" tagline goes with this camp / school blend where we encourage lots of physical activity in connection with computation and statistical analysis, with calculus for curves. Also goes with the BarCamp metaphor. The so-called "self quantification movement" (quite visible at OSCON 2011 already) is feeding into this lineage as well. Runners like uploading and sharing their sensor data. Athletes are forever comparing stats, and that's math, stats, bioinformatics. Our two cyclers are foodies and each was testing a diet. STEM is deliberately a blend and working hard to keep each subject distinct from the others has that "bad old days" flavor of when people hyper-specialized. "Is this computer science or bio-engineering?" -- why would you need to bog down in such questions? The majors we seek to attract have environmental science concerns and a lot of the sensors we're installing have a biometric angle. If you saw the movie 'Gasland' you know there's a lot to be monitored and modeled -- an ongoing project in multiple counties. No one private organization has jurisdiction, especially given all the public lands involved, not forgetting public air. Plenty of room for school involvement, with universities winning contracts, receiving grants. You might see more of these schools popping up in the Stans or Nigeria for example (some UN funding), as these student populations are just as concerned about environmental quality, and are just as capable of running Ubuntu etc. http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2010/08/foss-in-afghanistan.html Oregon hikers are increasingly ask for wifi / cell in the wilderness and that's giving eco-scientists (STEM students) more options with webcams, weather stations, air and water quality sensors etc. Anyway, just painting a picture of the memes I'm harvesting when watching your videos. What if we just have like a bed sheet strung between trees for a screen, with camp and star light for backdrop? We want to learn Python, in conjunction with an API for pulling up data about the ecosystem (called "place based education" in the literature). Should we aim for more portable projection capability? Or should we design certain sites to have geocached equipment accessible to those with the right "treasure maps"? Lots to think about. Link to mathfuture: http://groups.google.com/group/mathfuture/browse_thread/thread/ebafa7896fd9c... Kirby

kirby urner <kirby.urner@gmail.com> wrote: On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 4:59 PM, A. Jorge Garcia <calcpage@aol.com> wrote:
Here's my blogs about Learning and Teaching Math and Computing with technology! http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/07/taking-show-on-road.html
Really glad you're collecting and posting these in one place. Great to getting a read on technology in the classroom, as used by a pro who also bucks the system, doesn't sucker for vendor lock-in at every turn e.g. knows free Ubuntu has viable real time desktop capturing mp4 capability.
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/08/flipping-classroom-to-flip-or-not-...
( might be a mistake in the Java on this one myBody += myBody + etc.)
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/06/screencasting-101-to-be-or-not-to-... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/08/fare-thee-well-summer-session-ii.h... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/08/fare-thee-well-summer-session-ii-p... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/08/fare-thee-well-summer-session-ii-p...
My storyboard school in the Oregon high desert (branch campus) is quite bicycle centric, with students coming back with lots of data. Bicycles and riders are likely equipped with sensors, are outfitted for GPS navigation. Two of our cyclers just came back from Yamhill county, 4 days in farm and forest lands, harvesting data (this is real, not storyboard). GIS was used, but no real time GPS this time, and no sensors were left behind. Tags: Project Earthala, Dignity Village, EPCOT West, XRL (eXtremely Remote Living) The goal is to build up an electronic, interactive representation of the surrounding ecosystem and to use it in association with county engineers to implement various new energy harvesting technologies, such as the solar steam dish from Infinia (sterling engine), various dwelling machine solutions (or call them tents, yurts or whatever). Note: urban schools may accept the same challenge. Urban geocaching is already a recognized sport. A professor from Rochester and I had a long talk with the CTO of Immersive Media (Portland office) about their back pack dodeca-cams, not unlike those on Google Cars. The files generated by these things (devices) go to the school's rack for stitching together in student-faculty designed mashups. As an intranet, our installation closely models a GIS shop, perhaps with ESRI products (a Python angle). Imagine hiking trails tagged with immersive media files such that campsites might be viewed "on tape" even just by dialing in coordinates, or hitting a blip on the map (shared / projected). Yes, like Picassa.
Here's my preCalculus, Calculus and CompSci screen-casts! http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
Here's some math and computer songs my studemts made for YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/cistheta2007#g/c/8E2A8DE4C0DA6B2A http://www.youtube.com/cistheta2007#g/c/FBA85F4CD27E8D4A
Here's some computer documentaries I saved from crumbling VHS tapes for YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/cistheta2007#g/c/35534A5E32FB49A4
Thanx, A. Jorge Garcia Applied Math and CompSci http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
Our "math is an outdoor sport" tagline goes with this camp / school blend where we encourage lots of physical activity in connection with computation and statistical analysis, with calculus for curves. Also goes with the BarCamp metaphor. The so-called "self quantification movement" (quite visible at OSCON 2011 already) is feeding into this lineage as well. Runners like uploading and sharing their sensor data. Athletes are forever comparing stats, and that's math, stats, bioinformatics. Our two cyclers are foodies and each was testing a diet. STEM is deliberately a blend and working hard to keep each subject distinct from the others has that "bad old days" flavor of when people hyper-specialized. "Is this computer science or bio-engineering?" -- why would you need to bog down in such questions? The majors we seek to attract have environmental science concerns and a lot of the sensors we're installing have a biometric angle. If you saw the movie 'Gasland' you know there's a lot to be monitored and modeled -- an ongoing project in multiple counties. No one private organization has jurisdiction, especially given all the public lands involved, not forgetting public air. Plenty of room for school involvement, with universities winning contracts, receiving grants. You might see more of these schools popping up in the Stans or Nigeria for example (some UN funding), as these student populations are just as concerned about environmental quality, and are just as capable of running Ubuntu etc. http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2010/08/foss-in-afghanistan.html Oregon hikers are increasingly ask for wifi / cell in the wilderness and that's giving eco-scientists (STEM students) more options with webcams, weather stations, air and water quality sensors etc. Anyway, just painting a picture of the memes I'm harvesting when watching your videos. What if we just have like a bed sheet strung between trees for a screen, with camp and star light for backdrop? We want to learn Python, in conjunction with an API for pulling up data about the ecosystem (called "place based education" in the literature). Should we aim for more portable projection capability? Or should we design certain sites to have geocached equipment accessible to those with the right "treasure maps"? Lots to think about. Link to mathfuture: http://groups.google.com/group/mathfuture/browse_thread/thread/ebafa7896fd9c... Kirby _____________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig Holy cow! That's high praise indeed from the great Kirby! Yes, I have a rep for bucking the system, but they let me get away with it as I have a good track record! This will be my 28th year teaching in New York State public schools and I have 6 to go before retirement. I don't know how much longer I can buck the system with all these new teacher evaluation procedures... BTW, you are correct about the 'myBody +=' issue. I forgot it was on that video. We did correct it in the next class but I didn't record it. I've been screencasting my Math classes mostly over the last 5 years or so. Maybe next year's screencasting project will be CompSci. Thanx, A. Jorge Garcia Applied Math and CompSci http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009 Sent via DROID on Verizon Wireless

NEW: Blogs, Videos and SmartNotes and Code! Please enjoy my latest blogs about Learning and Teaching Math and Computing with technology! http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/09/week-1-screencasts-precalculus-and... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/09/week-1-smartnotes-precalclus-and.h... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/09/week-1-code-computer-math-computer... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/09/cistheta-2011-2012-introductory-me... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/08/flipping-classroom-to-flip-or-not-... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/07/taking-show-on-road.html http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/07/o-space-race-space-race-wherefore-... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/06/screencasting-101-to-be-or-not-to-... Thanx, A. Jorge Garcia Applied Math and CompSci http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009

NEW: Blogs, Videos and SmartNotes and Code! Please enjoy my latest blogs about Learning and Teaching Math and Computing with technology! http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/09/school-week-2-screencasts-ap-compu... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/09/week-3-screencasts-ap-computer-sci... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/09/school-week-4-screencasts-smartnot... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/10/school-week-5-screencasts-smartnot... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/08/summer-school-projects-become-scho... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-filk-you-say-write-it-in-c-omg... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/09/cistheta-2011-2012-kiss-natty-64.h... http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2011/10/lets-celebrate-ada-lovelace-day-ev... Thanx, A. Jorge Garcia Applied Math and CompSci http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
participants (2)
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A. Jorge Garcia
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kirby urner