Thanks to all of you that gave me feedback; this is very useful. A new version of Crunchy will soon be out - I "only" have to document the changes in the Crunchy tutorial. This new version will include two new types of interpreters as option, one based on Michael Tobis's suggestion from a few weeks ago, the other based on John Posner's suggestion. My over-optimistic goal is to have version 1.0 released early in September - for use in the next school year by interested parties. I understand that some students working for Jeff Elkner have been adapting "How to think like a computer scientist" as well as the livewires modules so that they would be best making use of Crunchy. Stay tuned... Cheers, André On 8/22/07, Dethe Elza <delza@livingcode.org> wrote:

Not a school, but some data points for you in this world where ultra-mobile computers (cell phones, PDAs, etc) may be out-pacing the growth of desktops and faux-desktop laptops:

Nokia N800 web appliance (my travel computer, together with a fold-up bluetooth keyboard it weighs about a pound, a third of that without the keyboard): 800 x 480 resolution. Runs PyGame nicely, has Python 2.5 as an optional install, Linux-based.

The OLPC XO is 1200 x 900 (and more amazingly, 200 DPI) and also runs PyGame, so my N800 serves as a development platform for the XO until I can get my hands on the real thing.

Right now I'm working on a Scratch-like environment for kids built on top of PyGame. My son just got an extremely powerful computer for his 7th birthday: a Nintendo DS (two screens, one touch-sensitive). Every game he plays, he sits down to sketch out how he would write it in Scratch, complete with wireframes, event handling, etc. Scratch has been an amazing force in our house. Right now he and his sister (who also has a DS) are playing games against each other wirelessly, without any support infrastructure (The DS creates its own wireless network). This is their world, they expect everything to be able to be programmable, connectable, hackable (they read my copies of Make magazine before I do and plan out their hardware projects: we'll be building an MP3 player when we get back from vacation).

Hope all of you are well. Greetings from Sofia, Bulgaria.

--Dethe _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig

Hi Winston,

I have been thinking of exactly the same thing--a Scratch type environment for Python. And I've also purchased a Nintendo DS development kit, hoping to make a Python to Nintendo DS development system. Haven't had time to work on it though with my summer classes. I should have more time in the fall, perhaps we can collaborate?

It's cool that you're interested in collaborating on Scratch for Python (or whatever we end up calling it). I'd love that. Right now it's not easy for me to set it up, but I can when I return to Vancouver in mid-September. My internet access is limited right now, and the N800 I'm developing on isn't on the net. Do you have any preferences between SVN (probably hosted at Google) vs. distributed VCS like Bazaar? The Nintendo development system has tempted me, but then I see the Lego Mindstorms sitting around waiting to be programmed, and the Roomba that I've utterly failed to hack (although it does make an excellent vacuum cleaner, we use it for that all the time ;-) . So I've restrained myself so far, but if you get PyGame working on it, I'll be there in a flash.

My biggest interest on the Scratch/Python angle right now is to develop some team programming games. I.e. you write a program using Python raw or Python via a Scratch interface for beginners, and then you throw your program into the ring via the network and have it compete against other students.

This sounds very interesting, and something my kids could really get into. Do you have more details about what kind of programs they would compete with?

Winston Wolff winstonw@stratolab.com (646) 827-2242

------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Stratolab - video game courses for kids in new york - http:// stratolab.com

--Dethe

Michael Tobis wrote:

I am also thrilled by the idea of Scratch in Python, but this brings us up against the limitations of the web. The fact that Scratch apps can be shared on the web is a crucial advantage. Could Python Scratch be targeted to Jython to provide sharability?

To Jython, or if we keep to the limited functionality of Scratch, to Flash, which would be more self-contained (and faster) than Java. Another advantage to using PyGame is that we could provide export to self-contained executables, to run the games on Mac, Windows, or Linux. Scratch itself has not yet been ported to Linux (sad, since it is built on top of Squeak, which runs fine on Linux), keeping it off of platforms such as XO and my trusty N800. I like the idea of virtual Roombas, especially as a leaping-off point. I can imagine kids costomizing their Roombas: spinning blades, laser turrets, even Steampunk Roombas. Once they have a platform to build on, anything is possible. Lots of interesting ideas here. Anyone else interested in this project? --Dethe

This is a very interesting assignment, but I would just point out that this is hardly an "intro CS course." They are doing these particular projects in an intermediate/advanced data structures/algorithms class. That would be a 3rd semester college-level course for those who entered without a programming background. At least that is where the link goes, and that seems appropriate for the assignment. Just building this as a Python API, rather than a separate interpreter might make for an interesting (and somewhat simpler project). The "critters" could then easily be programmed right in Python, which is something that even beginning programmers could do. --John On Monday 27 August 2007 9:08 am, Clare Richardson wrote:

There's an intro CS course at UT Austin that has an assignment where students create "critters" that can eat each other, etc, and the students in the class have a big tournament to see whose critter is the last man standing. This is often the favorite assignment of the semester, and many students from past years even come back for the tournament!

The assignment comes in two parts: 1) Write an interpreter for the "Critter language" 2) Define your own Critter in the Critter language

The class assignment is in Java, but could easily be turned into Python.

The project description and code are on this page: http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/jdiamond/cs315h/index.html#Proj3

Clare Richardson Technology and Program Coordinator Girlstart www.girlstart.org

-----Original Message----- From: edu-sig-bounces@python.org [mailto:edu-sig-bounces@python.org] On Behalf Of Winston Wolff Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 4:35 PM To: Dethe Elza Cc: edu-sig@python.org Subject: [Edu-sig] Scratch interface for Python,and network programming games.

Hi Dethe-

I have been thinking of exactly the same thing--a Scratch type environment for Python. And I've also purchased a Nintendo DS development kit, hoping to make a Python to Nintendo DS development system. Haven't had time to work on it though with my summer classes. I should have more time in the fall, perhaps we can collaborate?

My biggest interest on the Scratch/Python angle right now is to develop some team programming games. I.e. you write a program using Python raw or Python via a Scratch interface for beginners, and then you throw your program into the ring via the network and have it compete against other students.

Winston Wolff winstonw@stratolab.com (646) 827-2242

------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- Stratolab - video game courses for kids in new york - http:// stratolab.com _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig

-- John M. Zelle, Ph.D. Wartburg College Professor of Computer Science Waverly, IA john.zelle@wartburg.edu (319) 352-8360