[Edu-sig] Python accessibility

[Rob Andrews]

> Brent Burley and Pat Erb wrote:
> 
> Python is a very accessible (and very capable) language.  However, if
> you don't have Python on your system, it's not very accessible, and if
> you don't have an Internet connection, you're out of luck.  Even if
> you have a broadband connection, you have a lot of work ahead of you,
> far more than most people (in the CP4E sense) are willing or capable
> of doing.
> 
> I recently made a Python CD-ROM for my nephew since he has no Internet
> access at home.  It was a lot of work gathering and assembling the
> pieces and I was only able to include a fraction of what I had hoped
> due to lack of time.
> 
> I would LOVE to see someone sell a "Python EDU-SIG Resources CD" via
> mail order.  I think it would make a great school project (hint hint)
> and could earn some extra money for the school.  I'd love to see the
> disc full of all the stuff that's been advertised on edu-sig -
> VPython, Alice, PyGame, Jeff's book, Kirby's math stuff, etc., and I'd
> love to see it constantly updated.  Heck, I'd buy a subscription!
> 
> I would hope something like this could sell for under $10 including
> S+H.  After all, the cost of materials and postage should be less than
> $1.  And I would hope the license would allow free duplication of the
> CD.  Teachers should be able to give a copy to every student in the
> class for the cost of a CD-R blank and the time of a T/A.
> 
> Thoughts?  Or more importantly, volunteers?
> 
>     Brent Burley

This should be simple enough. If people who think this is a good idea
will post the items that should be included along with where they may be
downloaded from, I'll see if I can get something together. I doubt it
should cost as much as $10 per CD, because blank CDs are often less than
$1/CD here if bought in bulk, which half of my friends do. Shipping on
something that small shouldn't be terrible to most countries.

If I were to do it, I doubt I'd charge anything at all to send a single
CD out, even to another country. And the CD image can be made available
for download from our web server, so that anyone with the capability to
do so can download and burn their own copies. I'd have to convince my
partner (who has the CD burner) to go along with it, but as long as he
doesn't have to be the one who keeps the files up to date, he will
probably find the idea agreeable. If he doesn't, I've been looking for a
good reason to buy a burner for my own system. We could even throw on a
current copy of the source code at Useless Python for students and
teachers to play with.

Rob Andrews
-- 

Useless Python!
It's the right thing to do.
http://www.lowerstandard.com/python/pythonsource.html