Mailman 3 October 2015 - Pythonedu-wg

Opening up MicroPython on the BBC micro:bit
by Nicholas H.Tollervey 20 Oct '15

20 Oct '15

Hi Folks, Many apologies for cross posting. Here's some good news - we've finally been given permission to open-source our work on the BBC micro:bit (http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/microbit) and be a bit more vocal and public about what we're doing. Put simply, around 1 million of these devices will be given to the UK's 11yo in the spring. They are all capable of running Python. If you think the following is of interest, please spread the word! It'd be great to see the wider Python community get involved in this. Damien George (creator of MicroPython) announced it here: http://forum.micropython.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1042 I've written up a "story so far" blog post, for those of you who need some context, here: http://ntoll.org/article/story-micropython-on-microbit The actual source code can be found here: https://github.com/bbcmicrobit/micropython I'm more than happy to answer any questions you may have. Best wishes, Nicholas.

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Re: [Pythonedu-wg] Pythonedu-wg Digest, Vol 4, Issue 1
by Ian Harcombe 19 Oct '15

19 Oct '15

> > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Ian Harcombe <ian.harcombe(a)gmail.com> > To: pythonedu-wg(a)python.org > Cc: > Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2015 18:08:32 +0000 > Subject: Re: [Pythonedu-wg] Pythonedu-wg Digest, Vol 3, Issue 10 > >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >> From: Dave Ames <david.john.ames(a)gmail.com> >> To: "Nicholas H.Tollervey" <ntoll(a)ntoll.org>, pythonedu-wg(a)python.org >> Cc: >> Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2015 23:48:06 +0000 >> Subject: Re: [Pythonedu-wg] A new, kid-friendly Python editor >> >> >> On Tue, 22 Sep 2015 20:50 Nicholas H.Tollervey <ntoll(a)ntoll.org> wrote: >> >> On 22/09/15 17:46, Dave Ames wrote: >> > I would suspect that (rightly or wrongly) most school network >> > technicians would be extremely wary of giving students access to a >> > system shell of any kind. >> > >> >> Then most school network technicians are fools and should not have ANY >> input in such decisions. >> >> NOTE: I'm highly biased about this. ;-) >> >> N. >> >> Absolutely no disagreement from me there. If they've configured >> everything correctly then access to the command line for students, should >> present absolutely no threat to the network. But! >> >> The default state is "no command line", even though access to Python/Idle >> probably gives them at least the same level (if not more) of danger. >> >> Dave >> > > While that's all fine and dandy, students can be very creative (they > should, if we've taught them well) and some hacks are fairly easy to > research and attempt in a school environment; but the results can be > disastrous and inconvenience more than just a few people. > > Mind you, having said that, once you have Python installed it is an > absolute no-brainer to quickly Google how to run a system command from the > interactive shell (as I did last week, to try and help our tech support get > PyGame Zero installed) and then the presence or absence of the Windows > Command Shell is a non-issue... > > --- > Ian Harcombe > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Dave Ames <david.john.ames(a)gmail.com> > To: pythonedu-wg(a)python.org > Cc: > Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2015 18:32:02 +0000 > Subject: Re: [Pythonedu-wg] Pythonedu-wg Digest, Vol 3, Issue 10 > On Sun, 18 Oct 2015 at 19:08 Ian Harcombe <ian.harcombe(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >>> From: Dave Ames <david.john.ames(a)gmail.com> >>> To: "Nicholas H.Tollervey" <ntoll(a)ntoll.org>, pythonedu-wg(a)python.org >>> Cc: >>> Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2015 23:48:06 +0000 >>> Subject: Re: [Pythonedu-wg] A new, kid-friendly Python editor >>> >>> >>> On Tue, 22 Sep 2015 20:50 Nicholas H.Tollervey <ntoll(a)ntoll.org> wrote: >>> >>> On 22/09/15 17:46, Dave Ames wrote: >>> > I would suspect that (rightly or wrongly) most school network >>> > technicians would be extremely wary of giving students access to a >>> > system shell of any kind. >>> > >>> >>> Then most school network technicians are fools and should not have ANY >>> input in such decisions. >>> >>> NOTE: I'm highly biased about this. ;-) >>> >>> N. >>> >>> Absolutely no disagreement from me there. If they've configured >>> everything correctly then access to the command line for students, should >>> present absolutely no threat to the network. But! >>> >>> The default state is "no command line", even though access to >>> Python/Idle probably gives them at least the same level (if not more) of >>> danger. >>> >>> Dave >>> >> >> While that's all fine and dandy, students can be very creative (they >> should, if we've taught them well) and some hacks are fairly easy to >> research and attempt in a school environment; but the results can be >> disastrous and inconvenience more than just a few people. >> >> Mind you, having said that, once you have Python installed it is an >> absolute no-brainer to quickly Google how to run a system command from the >> interactive shell (as I did last week, to try and help our tech support get >> PyGame Zero installed) and then the presence or absence of the Windows >> Command Shell is a non-issue... >> >> --- >> Ian Harcombe >> > > Were you able to get it installed? I ran a workshop using PGZero yesterday > at our CAS Regional Conference and discussed the fact that by default none > of the teacher had access to the Command Line on their networks. > > Cheers > Dave Ames > > Dave, Getting there - what I've done is get it running on the admin account, then show tech support how to "bodge" the need for a command line by associating a slightly different extension (I've gone for .pyz instead of just .py) with the pgzrun executable. That seems to work, so on my account I can double-click a .pgz file and it fires up the PyGame Zero loader. I've left it to them to figure out if they roll out a suitable registry update to all students... --- Ian Harcombe

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Subject: Re: A new, kid-friendly Python editor
by Ian Harcombe 18 Oct '15

18 Oct '15

> > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Ash Guy <ash(a)ashguy.com> > To: "pythonedu-wg(a)python.org" <pythonedu-wg(a)python.org> > Cc: > Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2015 09:07:09 +1000 > Subject: Re: [Pythonedu-wg] A new, kid-friendly Python editor > I’d make the argument that you should avoid autocomplete like the plague, > but I take your point on making things easy— What about some kind of “Onion > Skinning” feature where the rest of the next matched statement shows up > dulled out in some way underneath the oncoming whitespace. That way you’d > get the hinting, but the user would still need to make deliberate decisions > and mental links to the actual python keywords. > > You could take this as far as you want— what about onion skinning out a > whole hello world example for new users? (Maybe that doesn’t work, but it > could be interesting to test and see!) > > Just a thought. > > --- > > Ash Guy. > Serial Entrepreneur, Tech Junkie, Creative Thinker. > > Seems like a good thought to me, fwiw. I like the idea that the editor will prompt/remind you of your choices but still allow/make you type them yourself. It should really help them get the right vocab flowing for when they're let "off the leash" (to continue a metaphor). Teaching GCSE for the first time this year, and am really starting to appreciate how useful all of the "Puppy" ideas I'm watching go past will be. --- Ian Harcombe

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Re: [Pythonedu-wg] Pythonedu-wg Digest, Vol 3, Issue 10
by Ian Harcombe 18 Oct '15

18 Oct '15

> > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Dave Ames <david.john.ames(a)gmail.com> > To: "Nicholas H.Tollervey" <ntoll(a)ntoll.org>, pythonedu-wg(a)python.org > Cc: > Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2015 23:48:06 +0000 > Subject: Re: [Pythonedu-wg] A new, kid-friendly Python editor > > > On Tue, 22 Sep 2015 20:50 Nicholas H.Tollervey <ntoll(a)ntoll.org> wrote: > > On 22/09/15 17:46, Dave Ames wrote: > > I would suspect that (rightly or wrongly) most school network > > technicians would be extremely wary of giving students access to a > > system shell of any kind. > > > > Then most school network technicians are fools and should not have ANY > input in such decisions. > > NOTE: I'm highly biased about this. ;-) > > N. > > Absolutely no disagreement from me there. If they've configured everything > correctly then access to the command line for students, should present > absolutely no threat to the network. But! > > The default state is "no command line", even though access to Python/Idle > probably gives them at least the same level (if not more) of danger. > > Dave > While that's all fine and dandy, students can be very creative (they should, if we've taught them well) and some hacks are fairly easy to research and attempt in a school environment; but the results can be disastrous and inconvenience more than just a few people. Mind you, having said that, once you have Python installed it is an absolute no-brainer to quickly Google how to run a system command from the interactive shell (as I did last week, to try and help our tech support get PyGame Zero installed) and then the presence or absence of the Windows Command Shell is a non-issue... --- Ian Harcombe

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