[Edu-sig] programming for artists

[bchang@artic.edu]

hello,

i teach multimedia and web design at an art school as part of a curriculum that 
includes neon, kinetics, holography, microcontrollers, digital imaging and video, 
and pretty much anything else that involves technology.  a lot of the problems 
our students run across require programming of one kind or another, and this 
trend seems to be increasing.  my courses concentrate on programming a good deal, 
using javascript, flash/actionscript, or director/lingo for websites, cd-roms, 
gallery installations, etc.  however, a good part of every semester is taken up 
with basic programming concepts before we can get to the "good stuff".  i'd like 
to introduce a solid programming class at the foundation level, and python seems 
like an interesting possibility.  i haven't learned it yet, but have been working 
in c++, java, perl, etc.  for a while so hopefully i can get a handle on it by 
september <g>.  the problem with the approach we've been using (javascript, 
lingo, or actionscript as an introduction) is that each of these languages has a 
lot of features and quirks which are very unique, which gets in the way of 
teaching general programming concepts.  i'd like to use something that will let 
me teach core concepts quickly without getting stuck on too many language-
specific details.  at the same time, whatever i use will have to be something 
that students can use to produce interesting results quickly as well - since this 
is an art school, we're really interested in artistic applications of programming 
rather than, say, calculating compound interest or the traveling salesman 
problem.  so, my question is - has anyone used python for teaching art students? 
does this sound like a reasonable thing to do?  
oh, one problem - it won't even be a full semester course, but just 5 weeks - the 
foundation class also spends 5 weeks on sound and 5 on electronics.  not my 
choice, just the way the curriculum is structured.  so what i'd want to be able 
to do is get students going with python, understand some basic programming 
concepts like variables, math, strings, functions, and hopefully events, and be 
able to make something simple but visually pleasing.  does that sound possible?

thanks,

Ben Chang
bchang@artic.edu
Department of Art and Technology Studies
School of the Art Institute
Chicago, IL