[Edu-sig] Python at grades 5-9 summer program

[Dave Briccetti]

David Handy wrote:

>...
>
>You sound like a man after my own heart. Professional software developer
>with a desire to teach young people. Me too.
>  
>
Glad to know you, David.

>In fact this week I sat down with my 8 and 11 year old sons and taught them
>binary arithmetic and logic design (AND, OR, and NOT gates) just like my
>father taught me when I was 10...it's a generational thing.
>  
>
Cool!

>>A few weeks ago I got an email from an adult who is a friend of a student
>>who will be in my Python class this year. The man works in industry, and
>>wanted to know why I would teach Python and not Visual C++... suggesting
>>that I'm some tired old professor who was just teaching what he knows
>>instead of something useful. 
>>    
>>
>
>I'm rolling on the floor laughing! Python boosts productivity more than 4x
>over C++ for me and thousands of other developers and that's not useful?
>Sounds like he's the one stubbornly sticking with the things he knows
>instead of learning things that are new and different.
>
>I'm not worried about folks like that, let them have their own opinions.
>What bothers me though is that I'm meeting young people who have been
>influenced by folks like that. They want to skip Python and go straight to
>C++ because that's what they think "cool" game developers do.
>  
>
Yes, I've seen this!

In 2003, Will Wright, creator of the best selling computer game of all 
time, The Sims, came and talked to my class (it was outstanding!). After 
he told the kids that their game infrastructure was written in C++, 
several of my kids got really interested in learning C++, much to my 
dismay. I remember wishing that his stuff had been in Java, at least.

>They've got to understand that games they think are so "cool" are written by
>teams that consist of 3 to 5 programmers and 50 or more graphic artists,
>designers, etc. working full time for a long time with costs in the
>millions. They want so much to impress their peers, their teacher, etc. They
>need to understand that people will be a lot more impressed by something
>that's funny and original that they did themselves in Python and it actually
>runs vs. something they attempted in C++ and it would have been the next
>Starcraft only they never got it finished or working. That's the beauty of
>Python -- your success rate goes way up.
>  
>
Yes, excellent thoughts. I'm in the habit now of making sure everybody 
knows up front just how huge an endeavor it is to create a modern 
computer game. I try to set their expectations really low. When parents 
come to open house I say something similar, to help them know how 
excited to get by the relatively unimpressive-looking (to a lay person) 
programs their kids have written.

This year we will attempt to make a simple multiplayer network game in 
Python. Previously we've done this in Java, and only with advanced 
students. It has been successful, but I have only managed to find 6-8 
qualified students on average, vs. the 30 or so I get in the easier 
classes (I have 2 or 3 TAs).

These are my classes, if anybody's interested:

http://davebsoft.com/cfk/

I will be publishing lesson plans and other details here:

http://dbschools.com/dbschools/servlet/main/template/InfoSelection.vm?entity_id=6

Anyone is welcome to create an account here, and subscribe to any 
channels they find interesting, and then the information will be 
automatically emailed out.

http://dbschools.com/

I welcome feedback--and real live visitors, for that matter. We're not 
far from San Francisco.

>Anyway, welcome again to EDU-SIG.
>  
>
Thanks!

>David Handy
>Computer Programming is Fun!
>http://www.handysoftware.com/cpif/
>  
>
Dave