From sandysj@juno.com  Sat Dec  1 00:06:50 2001
From: sandysj@juno.com (Jeff Sandys)
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 16:06:50 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] Re: Student Assignment Styles
Message-ID: <3C081F1A.F25FB80C@juno.com>

Bryce Embry writes:
> ... I'm learning a lot of the material as we go along 
> (I'm a few steps ahead of the students, but not far).
> ...
> ... I've been using what I consider to be smaller projects and am 
> wondering if fewer, larger projects would be better for my kids. ...

I admire your courage for going ahead with Python without a 
syllabus, I am still using Logo for middle school students.

Since I believe that programming is a craft (not an art or science) 
we call our after school programming club a Guild.  Apprentices 
learn what the tools are and how to use them.  Journeymen work on 
small projects at my suggestion or as part of a larger project. 
At this stage they are developing their craft and learning the 
why of their tools.  Once they demonstrate an understanding of 
programming they become a Master.  As a Master they write their 
own programs and ask teachers if there is something that they 
could develop for them and their classes, such as a physics 
simulator or the animal game for understanding classification.
All this apprentice, journeyman, master stuff is informal, 
I don't give tests or allow hazing, the students seem to know 
what level they are.

I strongly encourage the students to work in pairs and teams 
but allow for loners, who usually will join in the fun later. 
I'm not sure if this helps, since I volunteer to run this club 
there is no pressure on me for the students academic performance.

Thanks,
Jeff Sandys


From urnerk@qwest.net  Sun Dec  2 05:03:31 2001
From: urnerk@qwest.net (Kirby Urner)
Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2001 21:03:31 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] Re: [Tutor] Need more precise digits
In-Reply-To: <20011201225723.B16876@harmony.cs.rit.edu>
References: <4.2.0.58.20011201195017.00c3f5c0@pop3.norton.antivirus>
 <1007252593.8525.0.camel@rama>
 <Pine.LNX.4.21.0112011606060.31870-100000@hkn.eecs.berkeley.edu>
 <1007252593.8525.0.camel@rama>
 <20011201204536.B16707@harmony.cs.rit.edu>
 <4.2.0.58.20011201195017.00c3f5c0@pop3.norton.antivirus>
Message-ID: <4.2.0.58.20011201203547.00c3e660@pop3.norton.antivirus>

In tutor@python.org, "dman" <dsh8290@rit.edu> wrote:

>Checking equality with floats is bad because of the
>approximations that happen.

Oh so true.

    def lazyrange(start,stop,inc):
         if (start<stop and inc<0) or \
            (start>stop and inc>0):
            raise ValueError,"Illegal parameters"
         while start<stop:
            yield start
            start += inc
         return

Didn't have *that* problem at least.

By the way, another application of the generator feature
came up for me on another list recently.  I was chatting
with a community college prof about continued fractions,
which have the standard form:

            q0 +    1
                 --------
                  q1 +  1
                       ----
                        q2 + ....

Where q0, q1... are positive integers.  I had this recursive
way of doing it which amounted to a right to left evaluation,
but he showed me a way of going left to right.  That was cool,
because one thing I wanted to see was how some continued
fractions gradually converge to a key constant.  For example,
the simplest of all continued fractions is just:

            1  +    1
                 --------
                  1  +  1
                       ----
                        1 + ....

and so on.

The professor had written his algorithm for the TI calculator,
but I adapted with hardly any modifications to Python, and
now it looks like this:

     from __future__ import generators

     def conv(cf):
        """
        Generate partial fractions from partial quotients
        of a continued fraction, with thanks to:
        RWW Taylor
        National Technical Institute for the Deaf
        Rochester Institute of Technology
        Rochester NY 14623
        """
        cfsize = len(cf)
        n = [0 for i in range(cfsize+2)]  # all 0s
        d = n[:]                          # copy of n
        n[1] = d[0] = 1
        for i in range(cfsize):
          n[i+2] = n[i] + cf[i] * n[i + 1]
          d[i+2] = d[i] + cf[i] * d[i + 1]
          yield str(n[i])+"/"+str(d[i]) # interim result
        return

So if I feed this a list like [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
it'll yield an approximation with each iteration, because
I wrote it as a generator.

For example:

  >>> genphi = conv([1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1])
  >>> for fraction in genphi: print fraction

  0/1
  1/0
  1/1
  2/1
  3/2
  5/3
  8/5
  13/8
  21/13
  34/21
  55/34
  89/55
  144/89

Of course a 'print' statement in place of yield would accomplish
the same thing in this context (that's what a yield is like,
a print).  But I can imagine an application where I'd want
to return the partial fraction, then maybe ask for more
precision later on, and conv() would be there, ready to pick
up right where it left off.

I've written class definitions like this for square roots --
you ask for 30 digits of precision, then come back later and
ask for 100 digits, and it doesn't have to start over from
the beginning, just goes out from 30, and so on.

BTW, as some might already know, the constant we're
approaching with this simplest of continued fractions is
phi = (sqrt(5)+1)/2 = golden ratio = approx.
1.6180339887498949

   >>> 144/89.
   1.6179775280898876

Not so close yet.  But let's go out to 50 iterations:

   >>> genphi = conv([1 for i in range(50)])
   >>> for fraction in genphi:  result = fraction

   >>> result
   '7778742049/4807526976'
   >>> 7778742049/4807526976.
   1.6180339887498949

Better.

This is where we could write a loop that continues until the
difference between the fraction and the floating point goes
below some very small value, like 1E-12.  Just modify conv()
to never stop on its own, and keep looping until you hit the
break condition, which should *not* involve an ==, for the
reason you mention.

Kirby



From tim.one@home.com  Sun Dec  2 09:57:49 2001
From: tim.one@home.com (Tim Peters)
Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2001 04:57:49 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] RE: [Tutor] Need more precise digits
In-Reply-To: <4.2.0.58.20011201203547.00c3e660@pop3.norton.antivirus>
Message-ID: <LNBBLJKPBEHFEDALKOLCAEGAMKAA.tim.one@home.com>

[Kirby Urner]
> ...
> By the way, another application of the generator feature
> came up for me on another list recently.  I was chatting
> with a community college prof about continued fractions,
> which have the standard form:
>
>             q0 +    1
>                  --------
>                   q1 +  1
>                        ----
>                         q2 + ....
>
> Where q0, q1... are positive integers.  I had this recursive
> way of doing it which amounted to a right to left evaluation,
> but he showed me a way of going left to right.  That was cool,
> because one thing I wanted to see was how some continued
> fractions gradually converge to a key constant.  For example,
> the simplest of all continued fractions is just:
>
>             1  +    1
>                  --------
>                   1  +  1
>                        ----
>                         1 + ....
>
> and so on.

Note that the numerators and denominators of the convergents to this are the
Fibonacci numbers; that is, this:

> ...
>   1/1
>   2/1
>   3/2
>   5/3
>   8/5
>   13/8
>   21/13
> ...

should look familiar <wink>.

> The professor had written his algorithm for the TI calculator,
> but I adapted with hardly any modifications to Python, and
> now it looks like this:
>
>      from __future__ import generators
>
>      def conv(cf):
>         """
>         Generate partial fractions from partial quotients
>         of a continued fraction, with thanks to:
>         RWW Taylor
>         National Technical Institute for the Deaf
>         Rochester Institute of Technology
>         Rochester NY 14623
>         """
>         cfsize = len(cf)
>         n = [0 for i in range(cfsize+2)]  # all 0s

Simpler as

        n = [0] * (cfsize + 2)

but, as shown later, you don't need a list here at all.

>         d = n[:]                          # copy of n
>         n[1] = d[0] = 1
>         for i in range(cfsize):
>           n[i+2] = n[i] + cf[i] * n[i + 1]
>           d[i+2] = d[i] + cf[i] * d[i + 1]
>           yield str(n[i])+"/"+str(d[i]) # interim result

Consider the last iteration of the loop:  the n[i+2]/d[i+2] and
n[i+1]/d[i+1] convergents are computed but never returned (when
i==len(cfsize)-1).

>         return

Not needed -- "falling off the end" of a generator is the same as a
"return".

> So if I feed this a list like [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],

Easier written as [1]*13 (see the similar trick with [0] above).

> it'll yield an approximation with each iteration, because
> I wrote it as a generator.

However, because you compute len(cf) at the start, cf can't *itself* be a
generator.  It's more flexible (and the code gets simpler!) if you let cf be
any iterable object.  For example, then you could feed it this:

def ones():
    while 1:
        yield 1

That is, an unbounded sequence of ones.

> For example:
>
>   >>> genphi = conv([1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1])
>   >>> for fraction in genphi: print fraction
>
>   0/1
>   1/0
>   1/1
>   2/1
>   3/2
>   5/3
>   8/5
>   13/8
>   21/13
>   34/21
>   55/34
>   89/55
>   144/89
>
> Of course a 'print' statement in place of yield would accomplish
> the same thing in this context (that's what a yield is like,
> a print).  But I can imagine an application where I'd want
> to return the partial fraction, then maybe ask for more
> precision later on, and conv() would be there, ready to pick
> up right where it left off.

Yes indeed!  There are many applications for this, although it's hard to
give an obvious example <wink>.

Here's an alternative that accepts any iterable object (incl. a generator,
if you like) as argument, generates all the convergents (including the last
two), and doesn't use any internal lists:

from __future__ import generators, division

# Generate continued-fraction pairs (num, den) from a sequence of
# partial quotients.

def conv(pqs):
    x0, y0 = 0, 1  # zero
    x1, y1 = 1, 0  # infinity
    yield x0, y0
    yield x1, y1
    for q in pqs:
        x0, y0, x1, y1 = x1, y1, x0 + q*x1, y0 + q*y1
        yield x1, y1

import math
x = (1 + math.sqrt(5))/2

for n, d in conv([1] * 50):
    approx = n/(d or 1e-300)
    print "%d/%d ~= %.17g %.17g" % (n, d, approx, x - approx)

> ...
> This is where we could write a loop that continues until the
> difference between the fraction and the floating point goes
> below some very small value, like 1E-12.  Just modify conv()
> to never stop on its own, and keep looping until you hit the
> break condition, which should *not* involve an ==, for the
> reason you mention.

Continued fractions are lovely.  One of the things you can prove is that
successive convergents are alternately larger and smaller than the true
value (e.g., 0/1 < phi, 1/0 > phi, 1/1 < phi, 2/1 > phi, <, >, <, >, ...).
Another is that if p/q and r/s are successive convergents, then abs(p/q -
r/s) == 1/(q*s) (e.g., 13/8-21/13 == (13*13-21*8)/(8*13) == 1/(8*13)).
Together, those imply that the true value is within 1/(q*s) of both
convergents.  A weaker but more useful relation is that, since the
denominators increase once the sequence gets going, the convergent following
p/q has a denominator at least as large as q, so the "1/(q*s)" is no larger
than 1/q**2.  IOW, once you get beyond the trivial convergents at the start,
any particular convergent p/q is within 1/q**2 of the true value.  This can
be used to determine a stopping point good to a given level of accuracy even
when you don't know the true value in advance.

One other factoid of use:  if p/q is a convergent to a real number x, p/q is
the best rational approximation to x among all rationals with denominator no
greater than q -- although, as usual with continued fraction, that really
needs some weasle words to exempt the trivial 0/1 and 1/0 convergents at the
start.

more-fun-than-apple-pi-ly y'rs  - tim



From rkr_ii@yahoo.com  Sun Dec  2 22:06:02 2001
From: rkr_ii@yahoo.com (Robert Rickenbrode)
Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2001 14:06:02 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Edu-sig] Realtimebattle w/ Python
Message-ID: <20011202220602.30194.qmail@web13409.mail.yahoo.com>

Anyone have any experience using RealTimeBattle
(http://realtimebattle.sourceforge.net/) with Python?

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Buy the perfect holiday gifts at Yahoo! Shopping.
http://shopping.yahoo.com


From urnerk@qwest.net  Mon Dec  3 03:11:59 2001
From: urnerk@qwest.net (Kirby Urner)
Date: Sun, 02 Dec 2001 19:11:59 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] RE: [Tutor] Need more precise digits
In-Reply-To: <LNBBLJKPBEHFEDALKOLCAEGAMKAA.tim.one@home.com>
References: <4.2.0.58.20011201203547.00c3e660@pop3.norton.antivirus>
Message-ID: <4.2.0.58.20011202184351.00c5c100@pop3.norton.antivirus>

>
>more-fun-than-apple-pi-ly y'rs  - tim

Excellent stuff on continued fractions from our
resident math-through-Python (and Python-thru-math)
guru Tim Peters.

Going the other direction, you might want to take some
ordinary fraction p/q, and convert it into a continued
fraction, expressed as a list of partial quotients
[q0,q1,q2...].

Here's an algorithm for doing that from my algebra.py,
based on stuff I'm pretty sure I learned from another
good math book: 'Number' by Midhat Gazale.

  def cfract(a,b):
      """
      Return partial quotients of a regular
      continued fraction equivalent to a/b"""
      rcf = []
      while b<>0:
         p = a//b
         rcf.append(p)
         b, a = a - p*b, b
      return rcf

It's sort of a modification of the EEA (Euclid's Extended
Algorithm).

So suppose we want the continued fraction expression of phi,
starting from x = (1 + sqrt(5)/2.  You can just put the
floating point decimal over a big power of 10, and run
it through:

  >>> import algebra, math
  >>> phi = (1 + math.sqrt(5))/2
  >>> phi
  1.6180339887498949
  >>> 16180339887498949/10000000000000000.
  1.6180339887498949
  >>> algebra.cfract(16180339887498949,10000000000000000)
  [1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L,
  1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L,
  1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 2L, 10L, 8L, 5L, 37L, 1L,
  10L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 3L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 2L]

OK, so it goes off the rails there after awhile, or
actually, it doesn't, because this is an exact translation
of the above fraction, which isn't phi, but an approximation
of phi.

Another interesting true fact about continued fractions, is
the square root of any natural number will generate a
*repeating pattern* of partial quotients.  Taking this as
a given, we can use the same trick as above to get a handle
on what this pattern might be:

  >>> math.sqrt(3)
  1.7320508075688772
  >>> algebra.cfract(17320508075688772,10000000000000000)[:15]
  [1L, 1L, 2L, 1L, 2L, 1L, 2L, 1L, 2L, 1L, 2L, 1L, 2L, 1L, 2L]

I truncated the list to 15 elements, knowing it'll diverge
from the pattern later, given I'm feeding it an approximation.
This is enough to give me the idea.

OK, so it looks like I've got a repeating 1,2 pattern, with
a 1 up front.  I could yield that with a generator, as we've
seen:

   def root3pqs():
       yield 1
       flipper = 1
       while 1:
          if flipper:
              yield 1
              flipper = 0
          else:
              yield 2
              flipper = 1

(that could be made more streamlined I'm sure).  Testing:

   >>> genpqs = root3pqs()
   >>> [genpqs.next() for i in range(10)]
   [1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1]

Lookin' good.

So now I can use Tim's cf() generator with this generator as
input, to get successively more accurate fractional
representations of the square root of 3:

  def conv(pqs):
     x0, y0 = 0, 1  # zero
     x1, y1 = 1, 0  # infinity
     yield x0, y0
     yield x1, y1
     for q in pqs:
         x0, y0, x1, y1 = x1, y1, x0 + q*x1, y0 + q*y1
         yield x1, y1

  >>> genpqs = root3pqs()
  >>> root3gen = conv(genpqs)
  >>> root3gen.next()
  (0, 1)
  >>> root3gen.next()
  (1, 0)
  >>> root3gen.next()
  (1, 1)
  >>> root3gen.next()
  (2, 1)
  >>> root3gen.next()
  (5, 3)
  >>> root3gen.next()
  (7, 4)
  >>> for i in range(30):      # skip ahead in a hurry
         val = root3gen.next()

  >>> val
  (2642885282L, 1525870529)
  >>> 2642885282L/1525870529.
  1.7320508075688772
  >>> math.sqrt(3)
  1.7320508075688772

Our fraction is already quite accurate.

BTW, I second Tim's recommendation of 'Concrete Mathematics'
-- bought it awhile ago on his recommendation and never
regretted it, even though I'm not a CS major (philosophy
over here).

Kirby




From python@livewires.org.uk  Tue Dec  4 13:35:44 2001
From: python@livewires.org.uk (Paul Wright)
Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2001 13:35:44 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: [Edu-sig] New release of LiveWires Python Course
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.21.0112041323030.6831-100000@verence.demon.co.uk>

The LiveWires Python course is intended to teach Python programming to
people who have never programmed before. It is used on the LiveWires
summer camp to teach 12 to 15 year old children to program.

The course consists of a set of PDF worksheets and a Python package. The
worksheets and the code are both under BSD-like licences.

We've recently produced another release of the course. The major change is
a move from Tkinter to Pete Shinners's Pygame package for the games
worksheets. This enables us to take advantage of Pygame's fast,
cross-platform graphics and sound capabilities. We hope this will make the
games worksheets more exciting.

You can download the course materials at 
http://www.livewires.org.uk/python/

Comments or questions relating to the course should be sent to
python@livewires.org.uk, which currently points to Paul Wright.




From ajs@ix.netcom.com  Wed Dec  5 02:05:32 2001
From: ajs@ix.netcom.com (Arthur Siegel)
Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2001 21:05:32 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] ANN:  PyGeo V.6
Message-ID: <000001c17d31$ba0b5960$c747f6d1@ArtSiegel>

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_0004_01C17D07.690653F0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

"Why don't you guys go do some coding!"
       Fredrik Lundh,  python-list, Dec 2, 2001
      (quote :approximate, spelling: exact)

And so I have.

BETTER CODE, REFRESHED SITE

http://home.netcom.com/~ajs

(check out the animation on the "links" page)
=20
NEWS

PyGeo is a selected site at the Math Forum=20

http://mathforum.org/library/topics/projective_g

>From the PyGeo readme:

PyGeo is a 3d Dynamic Geometry toolset, written in Python,
with dependencies on Python's Numeric and VPython extensions.

It defines a set of geometric primitives in 3d space and allows=20
for the construction of geometric models that can be interactively
manipulated, with defined geometric relationships remaining invariant.

It was created for, and is therefore particularly suitable for,
the visualization of concepts of Projective Geometry.

But it can used in more basic ways to create simple constructions
illustrating Euclidian principles.

And to create colorful designs from geometric ideas.

Fun (for all ages) as well as educational for both the
mathematically and *artistically* inclined.

It is also, hopefully:

 A take apart toy for folks trying to learn programming

 A dig at the "Old Dog,New Tricks" adage - having been created
 by a middle-ager without significant prior programming background.
 (It  took work, it took time)

 A work-in-process.
=20
=20
Art




------=_NextPart_000_0004_01C17D07.690653F0
Content-Type: text/html;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.3103.1000" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>"Why don't you guys go do some=20
coding!"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; =
Fredrik=20
Lundh,&nbsp; python-list, Dec 2, 2001</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial=20
size=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(quote&nbsp;:approximate, =
spelling:=20
exact)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>And so I have.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>BETTER CODE, REFRESHED =
SITE</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2><A=20
href=3D"http://home.netcom.com/~ajs">http://home.netcom.com/~ajs</A></FON=
T></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>(check out the animation on the "links" =

page)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>NEWS</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>PyGeo is a selected site at the Math =
Forum=20
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2><A=20
href=3D"http://mathforum.org/library/topics/projective_g">http://mathforu=
m.org/library/topics/projective_g</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>From the PyGeo readme:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>PyGeo is a 3d Dynamic Geometry toolset, =
written in=20
Python,<BR>with dependencies on Python's Numeric and VPython=20
extensions.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>It defines a set of geometric =
primitives in 3d=20
space and allows <BR>for the construction of geometric models that can =
be=20
interactively<BR>manipulated, with defined geometric relationships =
remaining=20
invariant.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>It was created for, and is therefore =
particularly=20
suitable for,<BR>the visualization of concepts of Projective=20
Geometry.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>But it can used in more basic ways to =
create simple=20
constructions<BR>illustrating Euclidian principles.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>And to create colorful designs from =
geometric=20
ideas.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Fun (for all ages) as well as =
educational for both=20
the<BR>mathematically and *artistically* inclined.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>It is also, hopefully:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>&nbsp;A take apart toy for folks trying =
to learn=20
programming</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>&nbsp;A dig at the "Old Dog,New Tricks" =
adage -=20
having been created<BR>&nbsp;by a middle-ager without significant prior=20
programming background.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>&nbsp;(It&nbsp; took work, it took=20
time)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>&nbsp;A work-in-process.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Art<BR></DIV></FONT>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV></BODY></HTML>

------=_NextPart_000_0004_01C17D07.690653F0--



From dustin@cs.uchicago.edu  Wed Dec  5 03:26:31 2001
From: dustin@cs.uchicago.edu (Dustin Mitchell)
Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2001 21:26:31 -0600 (CST)
Subject: [Edu-sig] iBooks in Maine Middle Schools
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.21.0112042119400.7553-100000@broker.cs.uchicago.edu>

I know this isn't quite Python in education, but I'm curious to hear
reaction to this news from Edu-Sig.  I'm a 'non-resident Mainer' teaching
Middle School in South Carolina (ugh, hot and *no* school funding) right
now, so this kinda hits home.

http://www.state.me.us/mlte/MLTEcontractawardPR.html
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/12/03/2043212&mode=nested

Reactions?  Thoughts?  Anyone close to the issue have something to add?

Dustin

-- 

  Dustin Mitchell
  dustin@cs.uchicago.edu
  dustin@ywlcs.org
  http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~dustin/




From jason@crash.org  Wed Dec  5 03:43:12 2001
From: jason@crash.org (Jason L. Asbahr)
Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2001 21:43:12 -0600
Subject: [Edu-sig] iBooks in Maine Middle Schools
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.21.0112042119400.7553-100000@broker.cs.uchicago.edu>
Message-ID: <EIEFLCFECLLBKGPNJJIMGEELHLAA.jason@crash.org>

"all seventh grade students and teachers will begin using portable, wireless
computers in the Fall of 2002, and all eighth grade students and teachers
will be equipped the following year."

That's great!  I wish my middle school had this when I was a kid.  Of
course,
someone needs to drop a line to their teacher contacts in Maine and make
sure
those iBooks *are* running Python.  ;-)

Jason




From urnerk@qwest.net  Wed Dec  5 16:06:29 2001
From: urnerk@qwest.net (Kirby Urner)
Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2001 08:06:29 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] iBooks in Maine Middle Schools
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.21.0112042119400.7553-100000@broker.cs.uchicago
 .edu>
Message-ID: <4.2.0.58.20011205080548.015d8530@pop3.norton.antivirus>

>
>Reactions?  Thoughts?  Anyone close to the issue have something to add?
>
>Dustin

So, how well does Python run on an iBook?

Kirby



From djrassoc01@mindspring.com  Thu Dec  6 15:44:03 2001
From: djrassoc01@mindspring.com (Dr. David J. Ritchie, Sr.)
Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2001 09:44:03 -0600
Subject: [Edu-sig] Who is teaching Python??
References: <4420476.1007058144616.JavaMail.sainad@sage.edu>
Message-ID: <3C0F9242.C04E6504@mindspring.com>

Well, I have been teaching Perl to Middle School Students in an after-school, one hour per week
computer club setting.  I've been doing that since 1998.  You can see some discussion of my experiences
doing that and the hand-outs on:

http://home.mindspring.com/~djrassoc01/

under the "Pearls of Perl" links, the Newsletter links, and the Mars Simulation links.

This year I am doing a similar thing but with Python.  I have about 12 students in one club now
and I expect to have another group beginning in February.

The considerations for middle school are definitely different than for college although the
college summer students who are part of the Fermilab summer program where I work have
benefitted from the "Pearls of Perl" document as they often use Perl in their summer assignments.

This relates to the student assignment styles that are being discussed in a different thread as well.

It also relates to the importance of the topics being fairly directly connected to other parts of the
middle school curriculum which is why our sessions focus on writing Perl (or Python) as a "Language
Art" and work toward the students being able by the end of the club sessions to write their own story in Perl or Python in the style of an Adventure Game, Role Playing Game, or Choose Your Own Adventure type story.  This integrates the Computer Club sessions into the overall focus of the curriculum around literacy which is a key element of the curriculum at the Middle School
level.

--David

Nora Wirtschafter wrote:

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> I am teaching Python at Widener University, Chester, PA, in CSCI 131, an elective science course for non-computer science majors.
>
> I am interested in knowing what other colleges, two- or four-year, are using Python as a teaching language.  Is Python offered at different levels in the curriculum? Computer Science majors at Widener use C as their beginning language; what language do your CS majors use as a start?  I am also interested in what texts you find appropriate (I have developed my own materials.)
>
> Thank you for any responses.
>
> Nora W. Wirtschafter, Instructor
> Widener University
> nww0002@mail.widener.edu

--
Dr. David J. Ritchie, Sr.
djrassoc01@mindspring.com
http://home.mindspring.com/~djrassoc01/




From shannon@centre.edu  Thu Dec  6 18:23:42 2001
From: shannon@centre.edu (Christine Shannon)
Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2001 13:23:42 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Who is teaching Python
References: <E16C1tQ-0006Jh-00@mail.python.org>
Message-ID: <3C0FB7AE.F65BE665@centre.edu>

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--------------E2BDCADED0B9D6680AACEDD9
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Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

At Centre College we have been teaching Python as the first programming
language for the past three semesters with very good results.  I will be
leading a Birds-of-a-Feather session on it at the SIGCSE meeting this
year in Northern KY.

Our students run the gamut from computer science majors to math and
science majors who are taking this for their major to fine arts majors
who are exploring.  They learn enough about object oriented programming
so that those who go on to Data Structures are able to make a good
transition to Java.

The text book situation is a problem.  I have use three different ones
so far and have not really been satisfied with any of them.  The level
is either too elementary or they are written as though this is at least
a second programming language for the reader.  Most of the on-line
documentation is very good but students usually want a book.

Christine Shannon

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--------------E2BDCADED0B9D6680AACEDD9--



From urnerk@qwest.net  Thu Dec  6 20:25:32 2001
From: urnerk@qwest.net (Kirby Urner)
Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2001 12:25:32 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] Who is teaching Python
In-Reply-To: <3C0FB7AE.F65BE665@centre.edu>
References: <E16C1tQ-0006Jh-00@mail.python.org>
Message-ID: <4.2.0.58.20011206122345.01e1a700@pop3.norton.antivirus>

Hi Christine --

More in the pipeline -- Python teaching texts -- geared
towards using with students (I've been reviewing drafts of
one of them -- as maybe are others here).  You shouldn't
have to wait long for some better solutions.

And then, of course, there are web sites.  I'm skeptical
the courses even need text books in this day and age, if
one can presume the students have web access (which one
can't always presume that of course).

Kirby




From WHITSTON@ltu.edu  Fri Dec  7 16:30:19 2001
From: WHITSTON@ltu.edu (WHITSTON@ltu.edu)
Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2001 11:30:19 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Edu-sig] Questions, comments, and other
Message-ID: <01KBL24KVB9G94DRLW@LTU.EDU>

To all:

Question 1:
Does Python support relative files directly (the manuals and books I've
looked don't address that type of file structure, but that doesn't
necessarily mean it can't)?

Question 2:
One of my students is looking for "curses.py" -- does anyone know where I
might find this module (given its name and the fact there is a "curses.h"
in C, could I safety assume it is "dead" or at least not in common use any
more...)?

Comments 1:
Python in Schools -- my poster for "Using Python as an Introduction to
Programming for Engineering Students" has been accepted for SIGCSE 2002.

Comments 2:
One of my Senior Project groups is doing their presentation using VPython
for "Data Structures and Sorting Algorithms by Visual Means" on Thursday,
December 13th at 4:30pm at Lawrence Tech. Univ. (if you are in the Detroit
area, you are welcome to attend -- e-mail me for directions and room
location)

Howard Whitston
Lawrence Tech. Univ.
whitston@ltu.edu


From showell@zipcon.com  Fri Dec  7 16:34:56 2001
From: showell@zipcon.com (Steve Howell)
Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2001 08:34:56 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] Questions, comments, and other
References: <01KBL24KVB9G94DRLW@LTU.EDU>
Message-ID: <3C10EFB0.71DCE009@zipcon.com>

WHITSTON@ltu.edu wrote:
> 
> Question 2:
> One of my students is looking for "curses.py" -- does anyone know where I
> might find this module (given its name and the fact there is a "curses.h"
> in C, could I safety assume it is "dead" or at least not in common use any
> more...)?

I have used curses.py quite recently on RedHat Linux.  I suppose it's
more common to find it on a Unix box than on Windows.


From pobrien@orbtech.com  Fri Dec  7 17:36:41 2001
From: pobrien@orbtech.com (Patrick K. O'Brien)
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2001 11:36:41 -0600
Subject: [Edu-sig] Questions, comments, and other
In-Reply-To: <3C10EFB0.71DCE009@zipcon.com>
Message-ID: <NBBBIOJPGKJEKIECEMCBCEEBLFAA.pobrien@orbtech.com>

I agree. I'm quite sure it doesn't even install on Windows.

---
Patrick K. O'Brien
Orbtech.com - Your Source For Python Development Services
Phone: 314-963-3206


> -----Original Message-----
> From: edu-sig-admin@python.org [mailto:edu-sig-admin@python.org]On
> Behalf Of Steve Howell
> Sent: Friday, December 07, 2001 10:35 AM
> To: WHITSTON@ltu.edu
> Cc: EDU-SIG@PYTHON.ORG
> Subject: Re: [Edu-sig] Questions, comments, and other
> 
> 
> WHITSTON@ltu.edu wrote:
> > 
> > Question 2:
> > One of my students is looking for "curses.py" -- does anyone 
> know where I
> > might find this module (given its name and the fact there is a 
> "curses.h"
> > in C, could I safety assume it is "dead" or at least not in 
> common use any
> > more...)?
> 
> I have used curses.py quite recently on RedHat Linux.  I suppose it's
> more common to find it on a Unix box than on Windows.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig@python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig


From Nora Wirtschafter <nww0002@mail.widener.edu>  Fri Dec  7 18:19:24 2001
From: Nora Wirtschafter <nww0002@mail.widener.edu> (Nora Wirtschafter)
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2001 13:19:24 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Edu-sig] Python Teaching Texts for non-computer types
Message-ID: <1266860.1007749164178.JavaMail.arnolp@sage.edu>

------=_Part_4935_5136456.1007749164176
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Christine --

I, too, had great difficulty in finding a book with the kind of teaching material I want.  Therefore, I ended up writing a book that I have now used for three semesters and am pleased with.  I'm still in the process of trying to get it published by a major publishing company because the editors feel that there is not a market, and I would prefer not to self publish at this point.

My text includes presentation of a concept, then examples (often in a FULL program, not just a program section), review exercises and a number of student programming assignments at the end of each chapter. Concepts build from chapter to chapter, so it really is a teaching text rather than a reference book.  It is certainly not an all-inclusive Python tome, but the content is quite teachable in a semester.

If I find a publisher who thinks the product is marketable, I will certainly let you know.

Nora 


<< Original message attached >>

---------------------------------------
Original Email
From: Christine Shannon <shannon@centre.edu>
Sent: 12/06/2001 01:23 PM
To: edu-sig@python.org
Subject: [Edu-sig] Who is teaching Python



At Centre College we have been teaching Python as the first programming
language for the past three semesters with very good results.  I will be
leading a Birds-of-a-Feather session on it at the SIGCSE meeting this
year in Northern KY.

Our students run the gamut from computer science majors to math and
science majors who are taking this for their major to fine arts majors
who are exploring.  They learn enough about object oriented programming
so that those who go on to Data Structures are able to make a good
transition to Java.

The text book situation is a problem.  I have use three different ones
so far and have not really been satisfied with any of them.  The level
is either too elementary or they are written as though this is at least
a second programming language for the reader.  Most of the on-line
documentation is very good but students usually want a book.

Christine Shannon

------=_Part_4935_5136456.1007749164176--



From arthur.siegel@rsmi.com  Fri Dec  7 17:30:46 2001
From: arthur.siegel@rsmi.com (arthur.siegel@rsmi.com)
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2001 12:30:46 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] re: Questions, comments, and other
Message-ID: <OFCC5D911E.860085A3-ON85256B1B.005F31D6@RSMi.com>

Howard writes -

>Comments 1:
>Python in Schools -- my poster for "Using Python as an Introduction to
>Programming for Engineering Students" has been accepted for SIGCSE 2002.

Could you elaborate a bit.  Is there a public document?  I am particularly
interested becasue I recently gave a presentation at an engineering
university in NY - the math department.  That presentation could end up
leading to some collaborative work between the CS and math departments
there.

Python can be a glue language in a new sense in these kinds of environments.

Its potential to facilitate interdiscliplinary and interdepartment
collaboration is enormously exciting - and quite real, IMO.

Art



From rkr_ii@yahoo.com  Fri Dec  7 21:24:06 2001
From: rkr_ii@yahoo.com (Robert Rickenbrode II)
Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2001 16:24:06 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Curses.
Message-ID: <5.0.2.1.0.20011207161100.00a586c0@pop.mail.yahoo.com>

Hey folks, can someone recommend a curses-like module for Windows?

Thanks, Rob

Robert K. Rickenbrode II
rkr_ii@yahoo.com



From liao@sandiego.edu  Fri Dec  7 23:17:57 2001
From: liao@sandiego.edu (Luby Liao)
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2001 15:17:57 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] Python Teaching Texts for non-computer types
In-Reply-To: <1266860.1007749164178.JavaMail.arnolp@sage.edu>
References: <1266860.1007749164178.JavaMail.arnolp@sage.edu>
Message-ID: <15377.20005.682909.377814@holycow.acusd.edu>

Nora, contact Petra at Petra_Recter@prenhall.com.  She might be
interested.  cheers, Luby 

 > Christine --
 > 
 > I, too, had great difficulty in finding a book with the kind of teaching material I want.  Therefore, I ended up writing a book that I have now used for three semesters and am pleased with.  I'm still in the process of trying to get it published by a major publishing company because the editors feel that there is not a market, and I would prefer not to self publish at this point.
 > 
 > My text includes presentation of a concept, then examples (often in a FULL program, not just a program section), review exercises and a number of student programming assignments at the end of each chapter. Concepts build from chapter to chapter, so it really is a teaching text rather than a reference book.  It is certainly not an all-inclusive Python tome, but the content is quite teachable in a semester.
 > 
 > If I find a publisher who thinks the product is marketable, I will certainly let you know.
 > 
 > Nora 
 > 
 > 
 > << Original message attached >>
 > 
 > ---------------------------------------
 > Original Email
 > From: Christine Shannon <shannon@centre.edu>
 > Sent: 12/06/2001 01:23 PM
 > To: edu-sig@python.org
 > Subject: [Edu-sig] Who is teaching Python
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > At Centre College we have been teaching Python as the first programming
 > language for the past three semesters with very good results.  I will be
 > leading a Birds-of-a-Feather session on it at the SIGCSE meeting this
 > year in Northern KY.
 > 
 > Our students run the gamut from computer science majors to math and
 > science majors who are taking this for their major to fine arts majors
 > who are exploring.  They learn enough about object oriented programming
 > so that those who go on to Data Structures are able to make a good
 > transition to Java.
 > 
 > The text book situation is a problem.  I have use three different ones
 > so far and have not really been satisfied with any of them.  The level
 > is either too elementary or they are written as though this is at least
 > a second programming language for the reader.  Most of the on-line
 > documentation is very good but students usually want a book.
 > 
 > Christine Shannon


From sandysj@asme.org  Fri Dec  7 22:39:39 2001
From: sandysj@asme.org (Jeff Sandys)
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2001 14:39:39 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Edu-sig] Re: Who is teaching Python
In-Reply-To: <E16CON1-00020S-00@mail.python.org>
Message-ID: <20011207223939.81946.qmail@web12802.mail.yahoo.com>

Christine Shannon <shannon@centre.edu> wrote:
>
> Our students run the gamut ... fine arts majors who are exploring.

How was the Python learning experience for the fine arts majors?

I remember a neat abstract painting Python applications that 
was also intended to be used for teaching Python, but I can't 
find a link for it.  Can anyone help?
 
> I have use three different ones <text books> so far ...
> The level is either too elementary or ...  

Which 3 books did you use?

Kirby Urner <urnerk@qwest.net> wrote: 
> More in the pipeline -- Python teaching texts -- geared
> towards using with students ...

Are any of these texts appropriate for middle school students?

Thanks,
Jeff Sandys


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send your FREE holiday greetings online!
http://greetings.yahoo.com


From djrassoc01@mindspring.com  Sat Dec  8 01:41:17 2001
From: djrassoc01@mindspring.com (Dr. David J. Ritchie, Sr.)
Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2001 19:41:17 -0600
Subject: [Edu-sig] Re: Who is teaching Python
References: <20011207223939.81946.qmail@web12802.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <3C116FAB.6BEF66CB@mindspring.com>

>
> Are any of these texts appropriate for middle school students?
>

I'm currently doing my computer club unit for 12 middle school kids
using Python--writing it as I go--following a similar approach to what
I did for Perl--aiming for a "choose your own adventure" literacy target
as I did with Perl.

I will have another computer club session beginning in February which
should let me "classroom test" my initial Python effort in additional ways.

--David
--
Dr. David J. Ritchie, Sr.
djrassoc01@mindspring.com
http://home.mindspring.com/~djrassoc01/




From dethe@burningtiger.com  Sat Dec  8 22:42:10 2001
From: dethe@burningtiger.com (Dethe Elza)
Date: Sat, 08 Dec 2001 14:42:10 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] Curses.
References: <5.0.2.1.0.20011207161100.00a586c0@pop.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <3C129742.3060607@burningtiger.com>

Robert Rickenbrode II wrote:

 > Hey folks, can someone recommend a curses-like module for Windows?

 > Thanks, Rob

 > Robert K. Rickenbrode II
 > rkr_ii@yahoo.com


Cygwin gives windows a unix emulation layer and comes with many (most?) 
of the

standard unix tools, including ncurses.  When I work in an environment 
where I *have* to use windows, this is the first thing I install.

http://cygwin.com/

HTH

--Dethe





-- 

Dethe Elza (delza@burningtiger.com)
Chief Mad Scientist
Burning Tiger Technologies (http://burningtiger.com)
Living Code Weblog (http://livingcode.ca)



From wilson@visi.com  Wed Dec 12 13:32:51 2001
From: wilson@visi.com (Timothy Wilson)
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 07:32:51 -0600 (CST)
Subject: [Edu-sig] Encouraging students to plan effectively
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.21.0112120722570.21258-100000@isis.visi.com>

Hi everyone,

I'm interested in hearing some strategies that I can use for foster good
planning on the part of students in my classes. We're just starting our
latest project
(http://www.isd197.org/sibley/cs/icp/assignments/portfolio_html) and I'm
going to have them working in teams of four (a pair of programming pairs).

Do you have a formal way of encouraging (enforcing?) a planning process?

Does anyone use UML when they get to OOP? (We're not quite there yet.)

-Tim

--
Tim Wilson      |   Visit Sibley online:   | Check out:
Henry Sibley HS |  http://www.isd197.org   | http://www.zope.com
W. St. Paul, MN |                          | http://slashdot.org
wilson@visi.com |  <dtml-var pithy_quote>  | http://linux.com



From showell@zipcon.com  Wed Dec 12 15:20:27 2001
From: showell@zipcon.com (Steve Howell)
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 07:20:27 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] Encouraging students to plan effectively
References: <Pine.GSO.4.21.0112120722570.21258-100000@isis.visi.com>
Message-ID: <3C1775BB.CE841598@zipcon.com>

Timothy Wilson wrote:
> 
> Do you have a formal way of encouraging (enforcing?) a planning process?
> 

I would encourage a lightweight planning process, such as writing up a
bunch of index cards with tasks and then ordering the index cards
according to when tasks should be completed.


From jason@crash.org  Wed Dec 12 16:18:23 2001
From: jason@crash.org (Jason L. Asbahr)
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 10:18:23 -0600
Subject: [Edu-sig] Encouraging students to plan effectively
In-Reply-To: <3C1775BB.CE841598@zipcon.com>
Message-ID: <EIEFLCFECLLBKGPNJJIMKELPHLAA.jason@crash.org>

Great idea, Steve.  Using cards is nice and simple.  And it is a great
way to introduce ideas like "use cases" or "user stories".   

Here are some references to the usage of cards in the Extreme 
Programming community:

XP Roadmap (intro):
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ExtremeProgramming

Card-specific:
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WriteItOnaCard

User stories:
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?UserStory

Also, Timothy, going so far as to actually enforce a planning process 
would probably backfire.  There are intrinsic rewards to various degrees 
of planning (better code, less frustrating debugging, potential for rapid 
adaptability to changing customer requirements), but they are not always 
obvious, especially to beginners.  

Explicitly *rewarding* ("bonus points") individuals and teams that plan 
(and plan well) might help ingrain the practice.  Up front reward for 
investing the energy in planning coupled with deferred reward as their 
projects run with more features and less debugging, yes, I think that 
might do it.  :-)

Cheers,

Jason






-----Original Message-----
From: edu-sig-admin@python.org [mailto:edu-sig-admin@python.org]On
Behalf Of Steve Howell
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2001 9:20 AM
To: Timothy Wilson
Cc: Python-Edu SIG
Subject: Re: [Edu-sig] Encouraging students to plan effectively


Timothy Wilson wrote:
> 
> Do you have a formal way of encouraging (enforcing?) a planning process?
> 

I would encourage a lightweight planning process, such as writing up a
bunch of index cards with tasks and then ordering the index cards
according to when tasks should be completed.

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



From showell@zipcon.com  Wed Dec 12 16:35:53 2001
From: showell@zipcon.com (Steve Howell)
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 08:35:53 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] Encouraging students to plan effectively
References: <EIEFLCFECLLBKGPNJJIMKELPHLAA.jason@crash.org>
Message-ID: <3C178769.270913E2@zipcon.com>

"Jason L. Asbahr" wrote:
> 
> [...]
> Also, Timothy, going so far as to actually enforce a planning process
> would probably backfire.  There are intrinsic rewards to various degrees
> of planning (better code, less frustrating debugging, potential for rapid
> adaptability to changing customer requirements), but they are not always
> obvious, especially to beginners.
> 
> Explicitly *rewarding* ("bonus points") individuals and teams that plan
> (and plan well) might help ingrain the practice.  Up front reward for
> investing the energy in planning coupled with deferred reward as their
> projects run with more features and less debugging, yes, I think that
> might do it.  :-)
> 

Good points.

If you have a planning process based on index cards, you can create a
tangible reward system for the planning process.  After each task is
finished, you get to move it from the to-do pile to the done pile.  This
gets very addictive, even for adults!  

I've visited a couple real-world programming shops that do Extreme
Programming, and they have bulletin boards where they put the cards up,
and as the cards get completed, they move the cards to the "done" area
of the bulletin board.


From sandysj@asme.org  Wed Dec 12 19:03:22 2001
From: sandysj@asme.org (Jeff Sandys)
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 11:03:22 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Edu-sig] Re: Encouraging students to plan
Message-ID: <20011212190322.25339.qmail@web12803.mail.yahoo.com>

I have asked the students to do a storyboard frame, a 
picture and short discription of what the program or 
sub-program is intended to do.  It should list the 
inputs, outputs and actions.  When a student asks me 
a question the first thing I ask to see is their plan.

when advanced students do projects for teachers, I ask 
them to write a contract, or oppertunity evaluation in 
P+ terms.  This is just an informal statement of what 
the program should do.  Then they do the storyboards.

I am currently doing this with Logo and plan to 
continue using the same process with Python.

Thanks,
Jeff Sandys

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From matthias@ccs.neu.edu  Thu Dec 13 18:08:10 2001
From: matthias@ccs.neu.edu (Matthias Felleisen)
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 13:08:10 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Edu-sig] Encouraging students to plan
In-Reply-To: <E16EZEL-0006mg-00@mail.python.org> (edu-sig-request@python.org)
References: <E16EZEL-0006mg-00@mail.python.org>
Message-ID: <20011213180810.1D9AF206F3@sualocin.ccs.neu.edu>

You may wish to check out "How to Design Programs" (MIT Press 2001, also
avalibale at htdp.org). It introduces the notion of a "design recipe" 
where a teacher can check several intermediate design steps
systematically. It's mostly functional but you should be able to adapt it
to Python. -- Matthias


From wilson@visi.com  Sat Dec 15 23:41:03 2001
From: wilson@visi.com (Timothy Wilson)
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2001 17:41:03 -0600 (CST)
Subject: [Edu-sig] Encouraging students to plan effectively
In-Reply-To: <EIEFLCFECLLBKGPNJJIMKELPHLAA.jason@crash.org>
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.21.0112151733490.16392-100000@isis.visi.com>

On Wed, 12 Dec 2001, Jason L. Asbahr wrote:

> Great idea, Steve.  Using cards is nice and simple.  And it is a great
> way to introduce ideas like "use cases" or "user stories".   

Thanks to all who offered suggestions. I read "Extreme Programming
Installed" over the last couple days and found several things that were
interesting. I like the "user story" method of defining the specifications
for a project. I'm going to try this.

My students are part way through a new Portfolio Tracker assignment
(http://www.isd197.org/sibley/cs/icp/assignments/portfolio_html), but I
think I'll hand out some user story cards and get them used to the concept.

I wrote up another project page at
http://www.isd197.org/sibley/cs/icp/assignments/portfolio2_html that
emphasizes the user stories. I wonder if any of you would look it over and
give me some feedback. Specifically, do the user stories capture the specs
adequately? (My project page also includes a PDF of the user stories I'm
going to hand out.)

-Tim

--
Tim Wilson      |   Visit Sibley online:   | Check out:
Henry Sibley HS |  http://www.isd197.org   | http://www.zope.com
W. St. Paul, MN |                          | http://slashdot.org
wilson@visi.com |  <dtml-var pithy_quote>  | http://linux.com



From djrassoc01@mindspring.com  Sun Dec 16 05:30:12 2001
From: djrassoc01@mindspring.com (Dr. David J. Ritchie, Sr.)
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2001 23:30:12 -0600
Subject: [Edu-sig] Encouraging students to plan effectively
References: <Pine.GSO.4.21.0112151733490.16392-100000@isis.visi.com>
Message-ID: <3C1C3164.E3037D4B@mindspring.com>

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(I inadvertently sent this to the original poster only -- I meant to send it to the OP and the list so here it is.)

In quickly reading your materials, e.g.,,

> My students are part way through a new Portfolio Tracker assignment
> (http://www.isd197.org/sibley/cs/icp/assignments/portfolio_html), but I
> think I'll hand out some user story cards and get them used to the concept.
>
> I wrote up another project page at
> http://www.isd197.org/sibley/cs/icp/assignments/portfolio2_html that
> emphasizes the user stories.
>

etc. I had expected more real "stories" -- i.e. "So, a user walks into a brokerage house and asks..." with the eye on the stories
being one to engage the imagination and from the story to distill the requirements.

That's kind of what I have done for middle school students with respect to a Mars Voyage Simulation written in Perl (see:
http://home.mindspring.com/~djrassoc01/mars/index.html ) though it's not quite the same thing because I was writing the program to
fit some requirements of a Mars Space Camp that the students were taking.  Still, I tried (for middle school students) to weave a
"simulation story" around what I was doing so there would be a natural visualizable way that the programming aspects would fall out
and be meaningful to the students rather than seeming to have just been pulled out of thin air.

Your students are several years older than mine so it may be that they don't need (as I felt) the more concrete story telling to get
their heads into the problem -- in which case the comments are not that relevant.

--D.


--
Dr. David J. Ritchie, Sr.
djrassoc01@mindspring.com
http://home.mindspring.com/~djrassoc01/


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<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
(I inadvertently sent this to the original poster only -- I meant to send
it to the OP and the list so here it is.)
<p>In quickly reading your materials, e.g.,,
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>
<pre>My students are part way through a new Portfolio Tracker assignment
(<a href="http://www.isd197.org/sibley/cs/icp/assignments/portfolio_html">http://www.isd197.org/sibley/cs/icp/assignments/portfolio_html</a>), but I
think I'll hand out some user story cards and get them used to the concept.

I wrote up another project page at
<a href="http://www.isd197.org/sibley/cs/icp/assignments/portfolio2_html">http://www.isd197.org/sibley/cs/icp/assignments/portfolio2_html</a> that
emphasizes the user stories.</pre>
</blockquote>

<p><br>etc. I had expected more real "stories" -- i.e. "So, a user walks
into a brokerage house and asks..." with the eye on the stories being one
to engage the imagination and from the story to distill the requirements.
<p>That's kind of what I have done for middle school students with respect
to a Mars Voyage Simulation written in Perl (see:&nbsp; <a href="http://home.mindspring.com/~djrassoc01/mars/index.html">http://home.mindspring.com/~djrassoc01/mars/index.html</a>
) though it's not quite the same thing because I was writing the program
to fit some requirements of a Mars Space Camp that the students were taking.&nbsp;
Still, I tried (for middle school students) to weave a "simulation story"
around what I was doing so there would be a natural visualizable way that
the programming aspects would fall out and be meaningful to the students
rather than seeming to have just been pulled out of thin air.
<p>Your students are several years older than mine so it may be that they
don't need (as I felt) the more concrete story telling to get their heads
into the problem -- in which case the comments are not that relevant.
<p>--D.
<br>&nbsp;
<p>--
<br>Dr. David J. Ritchie, Sr.
<br>djrassoc01@mindspring.com
<br><a href="http://home.mindspring.com/~djrassoc01/">http://home.mindspring.com/~djrassoc01/</a>
<br>&nbsp;</html>

--------------CC4E4D20FEC1D9520A326ED9--



From rkr_ii@yahoo.com  Mon Dec 17 22:19:02 2001
From: rkr_ii@yahoo.com (Robert Rickenbrode)
Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 14:19:02 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Edu-sig] Python sound.
Message-ID: <20011217221902.96369.qmail@web13406.mail.yahoo.com>

Hey folks, I'm having the kids use the winsound.Beep
library to write programs that play Christmas carols.
I had in mind to switch to the Snack wrapper functions
to switch to nicer sounding notes that play through
the audio card/speakers, but...

I seem to be having some trouble getting Snack to play
and really don't like the fact that it has to pop-open
a root window using Tk (we've not discussed GUIs yet).
Does anyone know about either:

1. Another nice windows compatible sound library for
python; or,
2. How to get Snack to play notes in series with
either the Tk root window closed or minimized?


Thanks, Rob


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From dethe@burningtiger.com  Tue Dec 18 18:28:19 2001
From: dethe@burningtiger.com (Dethe Elza)
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 10:28:19 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] Python sound.
References: <20011217221902.96369.qmail@web13406.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <3C1F8AC3.6050400@burningtiger.com>

Hi Rob,

I've had similar problems with a back-burner project.  I want a 
cross-platform way to create sounds based on a sine wave, but most of 
the python sound packages seem to be focussed on manipulation and 
playback of pre-recorded files (.wav, etc.).

Here are the options I'm aware of, for what it's worth:

Python Multimedia Services (part of standard install):
   Detect file type, manipulate raw audio data, but no playback
   http://www.python.org/doc/current/lib/mmedia.html

Snack Sound Toolkit
   Multi-platform, can create, filter, playback, and visualize sound 
files.  Some limited support for synthesizing sounds without playing a 
file.  Requires a Tk window to run it's loop (although I think the 
window can be hidden?)
   http://www.speech.kth.se/snack/

Pythonware Sound Toolkit
   Reads numerous sound formats (AU, VOC, and WAV) and plays them back 
on a variety of hardware platforms (windows and sun boxen).
  http://www.pythonware.com/products/pst/index.htm

ALPY 3D Sound Toolkit
   Interface to OpenAL (http://www.openal.org/home/), which is to audio 
what OpenGL is to graphics.  I haven't played with this yet, but it's on 
my list of things to do.
   http://amoras.2y.net/alpy/

pygame
   A game building framework built on top of SDL 
(http://www.libsdl.org/), which includes sound capabilities.  Another 
one I've been meaning to get around to trying. This appears to have more 
momentum (developers using it) than ALPY.
   http://pygame.seul.org/

There are also lots of special-purpose sound libraries for individual 
platforms (windows, linux, mac) and many (most?) have python bindings. 
It would be an interesting project to factor out the common features 
into one python package which worked cross platform and called the 
correct binary library depending on platform.  This isn't something I 
have time for right now, although I'd be willing to help document it on 
the Contagious Fun website.

If anyone knows of other options, or has experience they want to share 
about using any of the above, I'd be very interested in seeing it.

HTH

--Dethe

-- 

Dethe Elza (delza@burningtiger.com)
Chief Mad Scientist
Burning Tiger Technologies (http://burningtiger.com)
Living Code Weblog (http://livingcode.ca)



From rkr_ii@yahoo.com  Tue Dec 18 20:57:04 2001
From: rkr_ii@yahoo.com (Robert Rickenbrode)
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 12:57:04 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Edu-sig] Python sound.
In-Reply-To: <3C1F8AC3.6050400@burningtiger.com>
Message-ID: <20011218205704.41499.qmail@web13408.mail.yahoo.com>

Hey folks, after some late night oil, I wrote these
wrappers to Snack, to simplify the interface (my
students haven't yet reached GUI or event driven
programming).  I hope this helps someone.

(You will need Snack for Python here:
http://www.speech.kth.se/snack/)

Basically, there are 3 functions:
SoundStart, SoundStop, and Beep.  SoundStart wraps the
 initialization for Snack and Tkinter, and hides the
tk window.  SoundStop tries to clean-up after the
initialization.  Beep is exactly analogous to the
winsound.Beep call, except that the duration is
seconds rather than milliseconds.

Example:
import compsci

compsci.SoundStart(50)   #volume gain set to 50%
compsci.Beep(261.63, 10) #plays Middle-C for 10
seconds
compsci.SoundStop()  #clean up


Enjoy.

__________________________

import Tkinter
import tkSnack

def SoundStart(volume=50):
    """Initialize the Sound System"""
    
    global root, filt
    root = Tkinter.Tk()
    tkSnack.initializeSnack(root)
    if volume > 100:
        volume = 100
    elif volume < 0:
        volume = 0
    tkSnack.audio.play_gain(volume)
    root.withdraw()


def Beep(freq, duration):
    """Play a note of freq hertz for duration
seconds"""
    s = tkSnack.Sound()
    filt = tkSnack.Filter('generator', freq, 30000,
0.0, 'sine', int(11500*duration))
    s.stop()
    s.play(filter=filt, blocking=1)


def SoundStop():
    """Turn off the Sound System"""
    try:
        root = root.destroy()
        filt = None
    except:
        pass

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From Jason Cunliffe" <jasonic@nomadics.org  Wed Dec 19 00:50:37 2001
From: Jason Cunliffe" <jasonic@nomadics.org (Jason Cunliffe)
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 19:50:37 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Python sound.
References: <20011217221902.96369.qmail@web13406.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <000001c1882e$93a323e0$6501a8c0@vaio>

...Don't forget MIDI

For recognizable tunes like Xmas songs, and fun programming with audible
feeback MIDI makes a lot of sense. Most computers now have built in MIDI
cards so no need for cables. Plus there are huge archives of MIDI files for
free download no the web. Plus zillions of players, editors, sequencers and
processors in softeare of all denonominations.

MIDI is a protocol which applies well to programming. Changes of key, tempo,
instrument, channel etc are significant and much easier than using FFTbased
audio toolkits. Files are small and manageable. Cut and paste of elements
also.

To be honest I have not looked recently or very closely at Python for MIDI.
I do know of these:

http://www2.hku.nl/~simon2/python/
http://www.hyperreal.org/~est/python/MIDI/
http://www.quitte.de/midithing.html
http://www.sabren.net/rants/2000/01/20000129a.php3
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&selm=3C0F67FE.96E7CAE8%40alum.mit.edu

See the MIDI python tools at The Vaults of Parnassus under 'Sound/Audio'
http://www.vex.net/parnassus/apyllo.py/63131194


PyGame may well include MIDI handling. That would make interfacing with
other devices a pleasure.

The reason why I have not look at Python MIDI much is having to much fnu
with two superb non-python music programming toolkits:

KeyKit
http://www.nosuch.com/keykit/

PD [PureData]
http://www.pure-data.org/
http://www.danks.org/mark/GEM/

Whatever solution you use, if it invovves MIDI and you are using windows
there are 2 essential free tools I recommend you install:

MidiOx and  MidiYoke
http://www.midiox.com/


Together they provide a fabulous virtual patchbay  allowing one to route
MIDI siganl between several softawre on the fly, and also a monitor to watch
the MIDI data stream in color + lots of cool system exclusive features. Both
writen by MIDI software wizzards at Yamaha.

For midi hardware, the best value I know of is also Yamaha. They make an
external sythesizer and effects processor which connects via serial port to
quickly provide amazing sound tools for around $50. Play very well with
notebook computers as most po4rtable orchestra in your pocket with some
remarakbel sounds based Yamaha's XG series. It includes MIDI connectors and
also stereo efefct processing inputs for any soudn source. These are
programmable via MIDI.
http://www.yamahasynth.com/classic/mu10/q_mu10.htm
http://www.yamaha.co.uk/xg/html/software/s_guide.htm


A sub culture has grown up around the family of these with libraries, tool,
interfaces and lore for gettind great results. One obvious value for
teaching is that one can explore more than jst notes, but also ideas of
depth, spacial efects yet remain within a programming context.
http://xgmidi.wtal.de/software.html#XG%20-%20Editors

good luck
./Jason




From Jason Cunliffe" <jasonic@nomadics.org  Wed Dec 19 17:14:59 2001
From: Jason Cunliffe" <jasonic@nomadics.org (Jason Cunliffe)
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 12:14:59 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] New Books + goodies
References: <20011217221902.96369.qmail@web13406.mail.yahoo.com> <000001c1882e$93a323e0$6501a8c0@vaio>
Message-ID: <004901c188b0$b1651d20$6501a8c0@vaio>

Season's greetings everyone!

I saw a couple of pretty interesting looking new Python books in Barnes &
Noble yesterday:

Python Programming Patterns
by Thomas W. Christopher

Web Programming in Python: Techniques for Integrating Linux, Apache and
MySQL
by George K. Thiruvathukal, Thomas W. Christopher, John P. Shafaee

... meanwhile:

http://www.goose-works.org/
Topic Maps Processing Model with Python API


http://spectralpython.sourceforge.net/
Spectral Python (SPy): An Open Source Hyperspectral Image Processing
Environment

... last but not least:

http://mayavi.sourceforge.net/
The MayaVi Data Visualizer
MayaVi is a free, easy to use scientific data visualizer. It is written in
Python and uses the amazing Visualization Toolkit (VTK) for the graphics. It
provides a GUI written using Tkinter. MayaVi is free and distributed under
the GNU GPL. It is also cross platform and should run on any platform where
both Python and VTK are available (which is almost any *nix, Mac OSX or
Windows).

yeow:-)

regards
./Jason




From dethe@burningtiger.com  Wed Dec 19 17:56:03 2001
From: dethe@burningtiger.com (Dethe Elza)
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 09:56:03 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] New Books + goodies
References: <20011217221902.96369.qmail@web13406.mail.yahoo.com> <000001c1882e$93a323e0$6501a8c0@vaio> <004901c188b0$b1651d20$6501a8c0@vaio>
Message-ID: <3C20D4B3.7070303@burningtiger.com>

Happy holograms!

Not directly python related, but perhaps of interest to this group, 
O'Reilly has a new book out, "Physics for Game Developers," which could 
be very interesting in combination with, say, VPython or pyGame.


The "Python and XML" book is supposed to be out this month, too.

And while I was on the site looking up the above my eye was grabbed by 
"Ruby in a Nutshell" and "Programming Jabber," although the last one 
isn't due out until January.

Ah, so much to read, so little time.

I hope you all have a happy holiday season and a great new year.

--Dethe

-- 

Dethe Elza (delza@burningtiger.com)
Chief Mad Scientist
Burning Tiger Technologies (http://burningtiger.com)
Living Code Weblog (http://livingcode.ca)



From Burley, Brent" <Brent.Burley@disney.com  Thu Dec 27 18:53:33 2001
From: Burley, Brent" <Brent.Burley@disney.com (Burley, Brent)
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2001 10:53:33 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] Pygame article
Message-ID: <3C2B6E2D.EC605AA0@fa.disney.com>

I just came across this O'Reilly article about Pygame, the Python Game
library, http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2001/12/20/pygame.html.  It
gives an overview and a short example of moving a sprite around the
screen with the arrow keys.

The article also mentions "Severance, Blade of Darkness", a recently
released commercial game from Codemasters, which includes an embedded
python interpreter, http://www.codemasters.com/severance/front.htm.  In
fact, a python console can be launched from the game by giving a
"-console" command line argument.  It's been speculated on the net that
as much as 90% of the game has been coded in python and it's also been
reported that much of the source is included with the game as '.py'
files (nearly half a million lines on one report).

A personal testimonial:
My nephew is a high school senior and has been programming with pygame
for a few months.  He's been learning python on his own (with much
success I might add) on my suggestion as his C++ courses at school have
been moving too slow for him to be able to do anything "interesting". 
He was just telling me that after a year and a half they are finally
getting to "classes" in C++ and he was surprised at how much ahead of
the game he was having been exposed to python classes with pygame.

It's also worth noting that pygame is useful for projects other than
games.  There's a handful of apps on the pygame site,
http://www.pygame.org including the San Diego Zoo Panda Cam and even a
full-featured UI toolkit.

	Brent