[Edu-sig] Pre-announcement announcement

[Andre Roberge]

On 1/22/06, Arthur <ajsiegel at optonline.net> wrote:
>
[Snip]

Hi Arthur,

I'm documenting the process as I go along, in a nitpicking fashion. 
Also, I'm doing it as someone who is just interested in getting a
quick look at the program, more out of curiosity.  My experience will
*not* mirror that of someone interested in teaching or doing research
in geometry.

*** Apologies to all for the rambling style of this post; I just want
to give a glimpse at a real-life experience of a first time user. ****
-------------------

Going to vpython website; the link brings me to the vpython version
for Python 2.3 (I have 2.4 on my machine).  I don't want to install an
older version.  I decide to look around and find the version for
Python 2.4

Your website mentions prominently that NumPy is required as well as
VPython, but I miss the comment that NumPy is included with VPython
later on.

Downloaded and installed PyGeo  without a hitch.  Look for it in the
startup menu or the desktop (it never gave any indication it was
creating a shortcut): no shortcut present.  This is ok, but an option
to create a shortcut on windows might be nice for the casual windows
user.  (I've never done it myself, but still!)

Hunt for PyGeo... found a help file (txt) in the pygeo folder, but no
readme.  A readme.txt file would be nice.  Guessing that I have to
call it using vpyframe.py...  Wrong guess...

Look around (I should have read more carefully your website perhaps),
and find the documentation, including the quickstart.html  Try the
Hello Point example using PythonWin... crash PythonWin  (on the fourth
line) :-(
Try with the interactive python shell.... crash it on the second line.
 This is not going well for me.

Try it with the shell included with rur-ple ;-)   Similar as PythonWin
IDE.  rur-ple seems to hang when the display.pickloop() is called. 
However, I can move around the point, with the mouse (it changes color
as I move it around).

[The "hanging behavior" should not surprise me; it's most likely a
conflict between the wxpython mainloop and tkinter.]

Ok, playing with it.  Call help; I can enlarge the help window, but no
additional text it shown.  However, I can scroll down and see the rest
of the text.

Back to reading the documentation... ok, there's a lot more there that
I should have looked at first.

Reading some more, I found out why rur-ple became irresponsive once I
activated the pickloop()   (My own fault for not reading).   Ok, now
I'm puzzling how I'd get out of the loop to continue experimenting and
try the line example.  Can't find out how; kill rur-ple to get out.

Try the second example with Idle.  The "output" in the terminal window
is different than before and different also from the documentation;
the lines with "vector" are not displayed as a response  (they were
when using PythonWin or rur-ple), but LineFromPoints is (which is
different from the documentation)

>>> from pygeo import *
>>> display=display()
>>> p1=FreePoint(1,4,5)
>>> p2=FreePoint(5,11,9)
>>> Line(p1,p2)
LineFromPoints(<1, 4, 5>,<5, 11, 9>)

I try to play with it without "starting" the loop and I find out that
the right mouse button allows me to move things around.  It is fairly
reponsive.  I find that, after I call the pickloop() method, I can
kill pygeo (without killing idle).  I try again with rur-ple - killing
the pygeo window kills rur-ple altogether.

Browsing the documentation gives a good feeling.  One "surprising"
observation:  on the complex/index.html page, on the left hand side
(navigation sidebar?) there are links to Complex Numbers,  Complex
Plane and the Riemann sphere elsewhere on the documentation; on the
right-hand, the same three terms have external links, one to wolfram
stuff, the other two to wikipedia entries.  (find out it is the same
elsewhere).  I have a problem with links to exactly the same phrases
on the same page pointing in different places.
============================
Time for some "concluding" observations.

It looks like a powerful package, with a lot of thought having gone
into it.  (I don't say that to be nice!).
The pictures on the website are tentalizing ... but how do I get to
draw them. To parody an old ad: "where's the code?".

I crave for a "tutorial" showing, step by step, what it is good for. 
If part of the stated goal is to have "elementary schools students and
their teachers"... I say that there are many things missing.  I can't
imagine an average elementary school teacher even beginning to grasp
how to potentially use it in the classroom.  (Of course, kids are a
different matter ;-)

As a fellow developper, I am *very impressed* by the quality of what I see.

All in all, it looks like it is ready for a 1.0 release to a
specialized audience.  It does need more work (in my opinion) on the
accompanying writeup.  Then again, perhaps it is there and I have
simply missed it in my hasty way to look at it.
====
Back to working on my own stuff.  I hope that, one day (next release
perhaps ;-) Arthur will have the time to document in the same cavalier
fashion his attempt at playing with rur-ple !!

André