[Edu-sig] Python resources CD available

[Timothy Wilson]

Hi everyone,

I mentioned a week or two ago that one of my students was developing a CD
with copies of Python tutorials, software, etc. for my course next
fall. It's also got a copy of "How To Think Like a Computer Scientist" which
will be my text. We're going to give a copy of the CD to each student.

I'd like to offer everyone a copy. It's very raw (actually .iso
<rimshot>) and I would certainly welcome suggestions. I would be willing to
coordinate improvements if this sig were interested in making this a
semi-official product. Perhaps a name tying it in with CP4E would be
appropriate. I'm open to suggestions.

The most complete feature by far is the collection of Python tutorials and
documentation culled from many Web sites. As far as we know, there should be
no copyright problems. I'm sure someone knows more about than I, however,
and I would appreciate any comments along those lines. We figured that a lot
of my students would want to install Python at home and that their parents
wouldn't be thrilled if they were tying up the family phone constantly
consulting the Internet for their textbook or other documentation.

We definitely need to improve the software section of the CD to make it more
complete and uniform in its presentation. We've include Pysol and VPython in
addition to the Python 2.1 distributions for Win, Linux, and Mac. There are
certainly many more third-party programs and modules that could be added.

The iso is called pyresources.py and weighs in at around 60 MB. It's
available via anonymous ftp from isd197.org. Happy downloading.

I look forward to some feedback. I'd really like this to be a great resource
for my students and anyone else who'd like to give it a whirl.

-Tim

--
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