Thanks, Kirby, I'm excited by what the new book represents: a step up in dynamic, interactive graphics created with Python and Processing. Lots of people can create better graphics than I can, but the book takes readers step-by-step through the process, until they're making Mandelbrot and Julia Sets, Cellular Automata and other cool sketches that have inspired me. Of course you need math to do any of it. Or maybe you don't. Try it without coordinates, measurements, trig functions, RGB values and so on. You might give up and thank the Universe these math tools exist. Steven Wittens complimented my first book by describing it as "learning math using programming, but also learning programming using math!" It's my cunning plan for readers to come away with two sets of skills. Ask your doctor if Math Adventures with Python is right for you! Any input is appreciated. Peter Farrell On Sun, Dec 30, 2018 at 9:00 AM <edu-sig-request@python.org> wrote:

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Today's Topics:

1. meeting the author of Math Adventures in Python (kirby urner)

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Message: 1 Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2018 11:29:33 -0800 From: kirby urner <kirby.urner@gmail.com> To: "edu-sig@python.org" <edu-sig@python.org> Subject: [Edu-sig] meeting the author of Math Adventures in Python Message-ID: <CAPJgG3SGcjm=kLbvx=_k8qcmDk9_Z9GujsFYW=cm= L9QD7uV1g@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Twas my privilege to meet again with Peter Farrell (California) this morning, and his twin bro from Bean Town (Boston). They're heading out tomorrow, as is my visiting family, as we close out 2018.

Peter wrote Hacking Math Class with Python and No Starch Press is about ready to release Math Adventures in Python. I've been reviewing a PDF version.

What I'm facing myself is whether I think "writing games" is a best doorway into coding. For some, it clearly is.

However I always feel I'm shirking my real duties as a generalist when I make it the point of MIT Scratch, or Codesters (Python compiling to JavaScript) to make games and not math.

It's not either/or of course, and math leads to art pretty quickly. That's a STEM to PATH bridge in my lexicon (more on Medium).

The hybrid of math and coding we're seeing in Farrell's books, among others, seems more predictive of what's happening in the core curriculum versus in these after school elective programs I've been providing.

Peter has a better situation: the students come to him, and he's free to work in and test his math teaching ideas. That's what I'd like too. I'll talk to my bosses.

Peter and I first met at Pycon Portland 2017. Speaking of which, OSCON 2019 is still accepting talk proposals, I'm supposed to be spreading the word (which I am).

Peter and I both look up to Daniel Shiffman of Coding Train, who has been incorporating more Python in his Youtubes of late. https://thecodingtrain.com/ His stuff gets very mathy sometimes.

Kirby

Follow-up:

http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2018/12/another-math-summit.html (related blog post the shows book cover)