[Edu-sig] re: programming for artists

[Kirby Urner]

Just wanted to input that I'm reading all these, have looked
at the Zwiki, and am feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

Python is one thing, but multimedia is a vast set of partially
overlapping knowledge domains, each of which fills several 
shelves of books (we have Powell's Technical downtown, with its
miles of only-technical books).

You could probably write an API to the Boeing 747 in Python, 
such that you could go:

     while instruments.Airspeedindicator.current() >= toofast:
        controls.Throttle.setslower(1)
        
It'd come with a really thick 3-ring binder.  But even though
I could puzzle through the Python examples, I'd be clueless as 
to how to write a safe autopilot program, because I can't fly 
a 747, nor even a Cessna twin engine jobber.  Knowing Python 
doesn't get me any closer to having a pilot's license.

When it comes to multimedia, I'm mostly overwhelmed by how 
little I know.  The fact that a lot of these tools have a Python
API is encouraging, but I'm no closer to really understanding 
the core concepts.  That'll require a lot of study outside of
Python per se.

When it comes to multimedia, where I've gotten most focused is
(a) working with Povray and (b) going through some of the NumTut
and pygame type tutorials which expose graphics files as giant
arrays you can manipulate using Numerical Python.  That makes 
some sense and starts to scratch the surface of a huge world.
That's visual pixels.  About audio I know even less.  What's 
the format of an MP3 file?  I have no clue.  Would I like to 
learn?  Yes.  Will I be the one to write the book -- I suspect 
not.

Kirby