[Edu-sig] programming for artists

[Jason Cunliffe]

"Alan Gauld" <agauld@crosswinds.net> wrote

> I know nothing about multi media programming (except
> a very little in Haskell coz thats what my Haskell
> book uses for examples!).
>
> But I'd almost certainly buy such a book
> if you ever get round to writing it :-)

Speaking of which.. might you be interested in contributing?


Seriously, I think there is a book to be written. I would be happy to act as
general editor for it. I believe such a book would best be an anthology of
writers, perspectives and applications. I am certainly no Python expert, but
I see where Python 'fits' in ways that perhaps others don't. Nor am I a
teacher, but I am a student [not formally enrolled, except permanently at
the School-of-Life U.] An interetsing editorial question is how to balance
general techniques against application-specific API uses.

There are now several good Python books out there  - so no need to repeat
those. But ther is the matter of focus, metaphor and the language suitable
for multimedia. The two main axes are multimedia-oriented people wnting to
extend their skills via Python vs. people interested in programming with
Python who may not be familiar or aware of multimedia.

The anthology approach is popular now for a number specialized programming
books and also mutlimedia.For example  Flash5 now has several new books out
where various designers and programmers discuss their approach plus specific
techniques. These books are more like "Thinking Flash5". Unfortunately the
contents tends to be rapidly outdated by software updates and the speed at
which the authors themselves improve.

What would you like to see?

I would love to hear from any EDU-SIG contributors interested in this.

./Jason