[Edu-sig] "Croquet Project" and Python ?

[francois schnell]

Hello everybody,

I just read the CP4E manifesto/project  which I entirely and 
"enthousiasticly" agree with. I really hope it will reborn.
When I read it, it made me thought partly of  some similar goals in the 
work of  Alan Kay and al (www.squeakland.org / www.squeak.org / and now 
the croquet project) and others like Seymour Papert before.

A this point of the mail I must  supply  the list moderator (and the 
members of the list)  to not kick me off  since I'm not speaking of the 
good Guru in the good list  ...
I then confess that I have nothing to do with the squeak Community and  
that my squeak mastering is probably as good as chineese (E-Toys is 
mostly my limit with Squeak). 
In an educational context (and even in a not educational context) Python 
is the langauge I find the most usefull, creative and  interesting and 
my colleagues already know  my opnion to well.

I may then proceed (safely ?) to the next paragraph ...

I recently discovered the  new "croquet project":
http://www.opencroquet.org

But it's Squeak based :-(

But when I read the FAQ  :-)

/Question: Will the OpenCroquet project be one-programming language 
centric (i.e. Squeak)?
//Answer: We are currently working on providing alternative language 
compilers including JavaScript and Python. We would also like to provide 
some level of access to Java. The key elements of successfully working 
in a Croquet context is that the language be late bound, and have some 
kind of message based object control. TeaTime is based entirely upon 
sending messages to objects.
/
Croquet is in  an early alpha stage but it sounds very promising.
Will it take off ? I wouldn't bet my Python plush on that.  But if it 
does, would'nt it be great to see a strong Python in that too?
Are there Python fellows working on that ?

I'm also aware of Visual Python which I find great but I'd  like to find 
much more interest in it.
Croquet is also very different with aspects like the massively 
c"ollaborativ" work.

I say all that because you guys are rare...
In the open source community I sadly find that  the percentage of people 
intersed in the vital field of education (like me and you) is pretty, 
pretty, small.
I actualy didn't  find any "community" able to reach the critical mass 
to strongly influence any national curiculum in regard to programming 
with kids.

It would maybe improve to find more interoperability in groups 
interested in this field while keeping their (and mine) beloved 
programming language.

cheers

francois schnell
france