[Edu-sig] Computer Hatred

[Kirby Urner]

>>> import string

>>> text = (
"""
I have my hopes up that I'll be getting some more front lines field
experience teaching a Python + math mix, starting in October.  

A homeschooler mom is getting some kids together (around middle school age)
and is planning to rent space at FreeGeek, the local cast-off computer
recycler (they recombine parts the work to make FreekBoxes, many of which go
home with the refurbisher volunteers).

Whereas there's some carry-over from the calculator, in that Python features
an interactive command line, probably it's a good idea to start showing
things Python does that calculators have a hard time with.  In particular,
programming calculators is hard because of the small screen -- the higher
end ones connect to a computer console at this point.

Calculators also have a hard time doing stuff with letters.
"""
)


>>> def letfreq(txt):
	txt = txt.upper()
	for char in string.ascii_uppercase + ' ':
		print "%s --> %s" % (char, txt.count(char))

		
 >>> letfreq(text)
 A --> 53
 B --> 8
 C --> 31
 D --> 15
 E --> 78
 F --> 13
 G --> 18
 H --> 40
 I --> 40
 J --> 0
 K --> 5
 L --> 28
 M --> 25
 N --> 37
 O --> 55
 P --> 15
 Q --> 0
 R --> 46
 S --> 38
 T --> 64
 U --> 14
 V --> 6
 W --> 7
 X --> 3
 Y --> 9
 Z --> 0
   --> 132

Kirby