One of the themes / questions was "how do we sustain / build on the energy we DO have?" and I figure one way is to simply stay in touch and inform each other of possible opportunities -- software, events, collaboration, internships for students, etc. Novel, right? ;-) Just call me Captain Obvious.
Good to hear from you Kevin. Did we get to talk at Pycon? I met up with Jeff Elkner at long last. Naomi and I waved at each other a couple times. Today I'm helping an old college roommate, now a tenured physics professor, get VPython up and running in a Linux context (without wine, the Windows emulator). A perennially useful theme on edu-sig, especially these days when subscribers like Wes bring big knowledge to the scene, is taking stock, taking inventory, regarding what our assets are w/r to very specific niche areas. For example: what does Python have to offer in the 3D graphics department, where the latter breaks down into "rendered" (still) and "real time" (interactive)? I think we can start out by agreeing there's nothing in the Standard Library for this. My focus since the 1980s has been spatial geometry, as in polyhedrons, as in tetrahedron, cube, and so on. That's what brought me to Python in the first place, ditto the late Arthur Siegel of Pygeo fame (see early edu-sig archives). Now it so happens that many elementary mathematics curricula do not do much with spatial geometry. When first introduced formally, geometry often tends to be planar. Calculators, even graphing ones, are poor at 3D, which might be one reason for sticking to XY plots. Polyhedrons, if present, often appear towards the back of the textbook and their treatment extends to a few surface area and volume formulas. No "dual" as a concept, no V + F == E + 2, no Descartes' Deficit, no space-filling. My pilot math curriculum (Oregon Curriculum Network website) in contrast has always featured polyhedrons right from the top. We can call them "shapes" of the word "polyhedron" seems too difficult. By the time we get to learning to code, we're able to handle these longer words. :-D Anyway, that's an invitation to start a thread. Kirby
Good to hear from you Kevin. Did we get to talk at Pycon?
Not at this last one. I passed by your poster, but at the time, there was too much of a crowd around it to get to it, and I didn't make it back at a quieter moment.
Today I'm helping an old college roommate, now a tenured physics professor, get VPython up and running in a Linux context (without wine, the Windows emulator).
I seem to recall a time when I had that running on Linux. But I haven't used it in a very long time. (I think I saw it at a PyCon and said to myself "Oooh that looks like it would be fun to play with." But I didn't play with it for very long.) I'm not remembering any issue running it in Linux directly but, as I say, 't'was long ago and far away, and I could well be suffering from traumatic amnesia. ;-)
A perennially useful theme on edu-sig, especially these days when subscribers like Wes bring big knowledge to the scene, is taking stock, taking inventory, regarding what our assets are w/r to very specific niche areas.
Asset: I'm moderately fluent in ASL... Interest: Audio. No particular skills above and beyond, when it comes to Python, but I've become comfy with PySide (a.k.a. PyQt) and a wee bit o' MicroPython a la the PyBoard. I like to think I'm a reasonably clear writer when I set my mind to it.
For example: what does Python have to offer in the 3D graphics department, where the latter breaks down into "rendered" (still) and "real time" (interactive)? I think we can start out by agreeing there's nothing in the Standard Library for this.
I've been fooling with OpenSCAD as a user, not a developer, for use with our hackerspace's 3D printers. And ImplicitCAD which is written in Haskell. Jeff's school ... district? (or some umbrella that his school falls under) is now considering OpenSCAD as part of their curriculum.
Easy way to get vpython working is to install vidle on Linux. Also. Easy way to get turtle.py working is to install idle! HTH, AJG Sent from BlueMail On May 29, 2017, 7:25 PM, at 7:25 PM, Kevin Cole <kevin.cole@novawebdevelopment.org> wrote:
Good to hear from you Kevin. Did we get to talk at Pycon?
Not at this last one. I passed by your poster, but at the time, there was too much of a crowd around it to get to it, and I didn't make it back at a quieter moment.
Today I'm helping an old college roommate, now a tenured physics professor, get VPython up and running in a Linux context (without wine, the Windows emulator).
I seem to recall a time when I had that running on Linux. But I haven't used it in a very long time. (I think I saw it at a PyCon and said to myself "Oooh that looks like it would be fun to play with." But I didn't play with it for very long.) I'm not remembering any issue running it in Linux directly but, as I say, 't'was long ago and far away, and I could well be suffering from traumatic amnesia. ;-)
A perennially useful theme on edu-sig, especially these days when subscribers like Wes bring big knowledge to the scene, is taking stock, taking inventory, regarding what our assets are w/r to very specific niche areas.
Asset: I'm moderately fluent in ASL... Interest: Audio. No particular skills above and beyond, when it comes to Python, but I've become comfy with PySide (a.k.a. PyQt) and a wee bit o' MicroPython a la the PyBoard. I like to think I'm a reasonably clear writer when I set my mind to it.
For example: what does Python have to offer in the 3D graphics department, where the latter breaks down into "rendered" (still) and "real time" (interactive)? I think we can start out by agreeing there's nothing in the Standard Library for this.
I've been fooling with OpenSCAD as a user, not a developer, for use with our hackerspace's 3D printers. And ImplicitCAD which is written in Haskell. Jeff's school ... district? (or some umbrella that his school falls under) is now considering OpenSCAD as part of their curriculum. _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
Glad to discover from the docs that the latest VPython may also be installed through conda, recommended if not already using the "Classic" Vpython. conda install -c vpython vpython Graphics are served through a web server on localhost:9000 Screen shot: https://flic.kr/p/V6kPnV (directions imply this will work on any platform that supports conda, including Linux therefore -- I'm on OSX currently) Then it's import vpython, not import visual as in the past. Kirby
participants (3)
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A Jorge Garcia -
Kevin Cole -
kirby urner