[Edu-sig] re: New game in town

[Arthur Siegel]

Stephen R. Figgins writes:

>This just gave me an idea.  How about a database of programming tools
>and programs divided into categories and rated by complexity.

>This way learners could find code that matched their interests and
>capabilities.  They could tear it apart, study it, put it back
>together, play with it, maybe even contribute to it.

Sort of a Python Gamelan. Ambitious, would be great - but I don't
think the Python communioty is up to it.

As an interested and relatively long-time observer of the scene, frankly I'm
totalling confused at what's happening.

The announcement list, I thought a key life-blood of the Python world - who
is doing
what and willing to share it - has been essentially dead for some time and
nobody seems to notice
or care.

Nothing put forward on this list has been given any serious attention by the
folks who matter.

I have a personal bone to pick with my PyGeo - whether it good or bad
software.  I maintain
strongly that it is a much more serious effort at a piece of educational
software than Alice,
which is bloated, complex from a code point of view and has no redeeming
educational value from
a functional point of view.  If the EDU-SIG moderators want to stay out of
the software "wars"
I would understand it. But if Alice is going to be put forward as a
"certified" and high-profile piece of Python
educational software I would like to better understand the criteria for
inclusion.

PovTalk, which I had nothing to do it, I think is another great starting
point for some
real, fun, concise and innvoative stuff, but it also has no credentials
behind it and will probably be ignored.

Flame, rank whatever yuo might want to call it.