[Edu-sig] Re: gamemaker

Wed Nov 24 06:56:04 CET 2004

Thanks to everyone who replied to my last post re
gamemaker.
I have gained some good ideas and food for thought.
BTW - I believe gamemaker is programmed in delphi - so
I guess to extend it (use it at an advanced level)
would require using delphi? (delphi is a pascal
derivative).
regards
Darren

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>    1. RE: teaching Python (Arthur)
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>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 06:53:28 -0500
> From: Arthur <ajsiegel at optonline.net>
> Subject: RE: [Edu-sig] teaching Python
> To: 'Darren Payne' <inxdr at yahoo.com.au>,
> edu-sig at python.org
> Message-ID: <0I7M00ME7RPB8P at mta2.srv.hcvlny.cv.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> Darren writes -
> 
> > Sorry all - this post will probly stir up a
> commotion.
> 
> I've been stirring up a commotion here for some time
> by suggesting the
> possibility that Python is too rich and complex a
> tool to be realistically
> taught and appreciated by students of the age you
> are trying to teach who
> are not predisposed to some "geekiness".
> 
> So maybe if I am correct, you have been trying to
> bang your head against the
> wall, a bit.
> 
> But to what extent are you fulfilling your mission
> to teach programming by
> using Gamemaker? Its  a question, not a provocation,
> since I don't know the
> program.
> 
> Do you ever get to something that can be considered,
> fairly, to be
> programming?
> 
> PyGeo is (better, will be) of course the perfect
> alternative ;) The GUI is
> all pre-built (thanks to VPython). Its API is a
> narrow (and realistically
> absorbable) subset of the full range of
> possibilities. And to the extent it
> fails as a tool in teaching something about
> programming, it might succeed in
> teaching something about geometry, and vice versa. 
> A better hedge in an
> educational environment, IMO.  And there is no
> reason it shouldn't be fun.
> Nice and colorful 3d. I do believe fun should be
> part of the equation.
> 
> Just thought I'd venture out of the closet on the
> possibilities of PyGeo, as
> I begin to focus some of my resources on it again. 
> I was successful in
> finding someone quite qualified to help me (as a
> paid consultant) in the
> technical aspects of preparing decent distributions.
> 
> We'll see.
> 
> Art
>  
> 
> 
> 
> > 
> > I have been keen on Python for quite a while. I
> have
> > tried using it ti teach programming in a high
> school
> > situation and would have liked to extend into
> PyGame.
> > Sadly, though I feel I DO understand object
> oriented
> > concepts, I DO NOT have any idea of determining
> what
> > objects to create. Similarly, as there is SO MUCH
> to
> > learn before one becomes capable of completing
> even
> > simple tasks like a blackjack cardgame (with gui
> too)
> > ... I am finding students get turned off before
> they
> > even get a chance to see what can be done. I know
> ...
> > it must be just me and the way I teach it.
> However, I
> > have recently revisited Gamemaker. I saw it a few
> > years ago and could not make much sense of it. But
> now
> > it is up to version 6, there are loads of
> fantastic
> > tutorials to follow along with. I have introduced
> it
> > to classes from Yr7 - 10 and they love it whereas
> only
> > 2 - 3 of the really "nerdy", "geeky" kids
> appreciated
> > Python!
> > My feeling is that Python will never be widely
> used
> > (in schools) unless we can get a PyGamemaker
> package.
> > Even girls have a ball with gamemaker!
> > 
> > regards
> > Darren
> > 
> > =====
> >
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---------
> > regards
> > Darren Payne
> > Hurlstone Agricultural High School
> > Ph: 9829 9222 Fax: 98292026
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
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> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 05:10:38 -0800
> From: "Kirby Urner" <urnerk at qwest.net>
> Subject: RE: [Edu-sig] teaching Python
> To: "'Arthur'" <ajsiegel at optonline.net>,	"'Darren
> Payne'"
> 	<inxdr at yahoo.com.au>, edu-sig at python.org
> Message-ID:
> <20041123131039.BE0961E4002 at bag.python.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
> 
> Arthur:
> > But to what extent are you fulfilling your mission
> to teach programming by
> > using Gamemaker? Its  a question, not a
> provocation, since I don't know
> > the program.
> > 
> > Do you ever get to something that can be
> considered, fairly, to be
> > programming?
> 
> FYI, Gamemaker does expose a coding layer that
> requires some Java-like
> programming.  It also does a lot out of the box at
> the click and drag level
> -- then you can see what you've wrought in terms of
> code (the palette-driven
> GUI design motif, applied to dynamic interfaces).
> 
> 
=== message truncated ===

=====
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
regards 
Darren Payne 
Hurlstone Agricultural High School 
Ph: 9829 9222 Fax: 98292026

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