I've been going through Ruby tutorials this morning, trying to decide if the easiest way to program Sketchup is to use Ruby first, then mentally translate to Python and start using that. It's a real question, because all the documentation is about Ruby, given SuPy is a tiny pioneering project that I wouldn't have heard of had it not been for Driscoll the architect, one of my blog characters. The Ruby views got me into the language comparison Youtubes again, where the lore is getting passed on to a next generation. This guy thinks Python's debuggers aren't so great, but then in Python who needs to debug right, it just works the first time (kidding, only kidding here). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81WHD0IqheI&NR=1 (a guy with advice) Got there from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPyJ-siBIls&feature=related (Bruce comparing languages) ... the volume level on these two YouTubes is huge. YouTubes much on my mind given how Google Video just reminded us they're taking down all Google Video content in about a month and making just a video search engine (not a hosting service). We were encouraged to migrate all our GVs to YT, which I've been doing. Here's what it looks like coding for Sketchup in Python: http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/greg.ewing/SuPy/doc/example.py Here's a useful video on just the Ruby aspect of things, and doing something pretty simple: random pulls on some bricks, to make 'em taller. Gets the ball rolling (the sphere doesn't come apart into triangles, is more the classical gore dome system per latitude / longitude). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq1YEaI2XlA I have consistently and for many years advocated that CS curricula highlight a minimum of two languages, because contrast is how to reinforce core concepts in either. You don't know what you're looking at until you have another to compare it two, at which point the concept of "zebra" starts to come into focus. Yes, a deliberate over-simplification, duh. By "contrast" I also mean close similarities, so perhaps should just say "differences". This guy's Ruby tutorial has a comfortably familiar sheen to it, for anyone used to Python: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6It5aK9mJi8&feature=related So yeah, a Ruby + Python course, where we think of Ruby + Python as "one language" (almost). Java/C# would be another combo. I've often written about Python / J, as I think the way J is communicated, as a grammar (complete with parts of speech) is worth the price of admission right there. However if you're a stats person, maybe Python / R would be your better bet? I've looked into Ruby before, including with its inventor at an OSCON, just haven't had much practical need for it. The Systems PhD program at PSU is one of the only one of its kind and connects to the kind of mathematics they promulgate through Santa Fe Institute (also Ralph Abraham has done a lot of related work, J.H Conway, D. Conway (the more brilliant of the two), and of course Wolfram as we all know). We've already done a lot of NKS stuff here on edu-sig, using John Zelle's graphics.py (an adapter for Tk). Whether Sketchup proves ideal for this work, let alone SuPy, remains to be seen of course. Plus I'm not the one doing the work -- am just an adviser. Students come from around the world attracted by Systems Science, but these multi-disciplinary subjects have been withering on the vine of late, or so some people tell me. Kirby Chaos Math: http://4dsolutions.net/ocn/hexapent.html (HP4E) http://4dsolutions.net/ocn/life.html (game of life adapted to hexapent) http://4dsolutions.net/ocn/fractals.html (Mandelbrot with PIL) http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/2007-February/007736.html (NKS with Dr. Zelle's resource) Martian Math: http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315@N00/sets/72157622961425831/with/486329... On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 9:08 AM, Vern Ceder <vceder@gmail.com> wrote:

Now, that's a cool idea! I'll have to pass that along to our engineering class, which uses sketchup some...

Thanks, Vern

On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 11:34 AM, kirby urner <kirby.urner@gmail.com>wrote:

...

sketchuptips.blogspot.com/2009/02/supy-scripting-sketchup-in-python.html

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-- Vern Ceder vceder@gmail.com, vceder@dogsinmotion.com The Quick Python Book, 2nd Ed - http://bit.ly/bRsWDW