[Edu-sig] [ANN] rur-ple: pre-release of new lessons.

[Dethe Elza]

On 29-Jan-06, at 8:04 AM, kirby urner wrote:

> Hi Andre ---
>
> My plan is to introduce my daughter to Python using the robot  
> theme.  Your curriculum is an obvious place to start.  I will be  
> starting a more in depth investigation of your work in the near  
> future.

I'm also introducing my daughter to programming with robots.  If  
they're close to the same age (mine is nine) we might be able to  
brainstorm approaches and share successes.

> My longer term hope is to see some physical robot offerings on the  
> market (in addition to the screen based ones) with some kind of  
> Python capability -- perhaps just a module with pre-defined motions  
> the user might resequence or trigger based on events (sensor  
> inputs), per Lego Mindstorms example.

Pyro (http://pyrorobotics.org/) does exactly this.  It provides an  
environment for programming physical robots, but you can also run  
them in a simulator which uses OpenGL to create both the robot and a  
world for the robot to interact with.  Could be interesting to bring  
something like this to RUR-PLE.

> Also, I'm hoping the screen-based options become more visually  
> sophisticated, ala the Sims genre, i.e. we could script theater,  
> complete with dialog and sound, using Python (yes, this is Alice  
> territory).

Nothing wrong with going into Alice territory.  Squeak smalltalk has  
a 3D distributed environment called Croquet (http:// 
www.opencroquet.org/) which they are planning to hook up to Python in  
the near future (looking through their wiki and developer blogs, it  
looks like they've already integrated Python via their Babel  
component, and even developed their Wicket component with it, but  
that it needs further testing?).

> Arthur, before you blow your stack, this theater or playhouse genre  
> isn't about learning or teaching programming necessarily.  It's  
> about scripting plays and sharing them with your friends.

In my case it is because my daughter wants to create her own games,  
animations, and art using the computer.  She was fascinated by a  
screensaver I wrote and wants to make her own.  I'm looking at RUR- 
PLE and other tools for making it easier for her to dive in.

--Dethe

> Programming is a prerequisite, but by the time you start animating  
> some Shakespeare play or whatever, we assume you've already got  
> those skills.
>
> Python is for people who already know how to program, not just for  
> those into learning how.
>
> An important fact to keep in mind, as we explore the space of  
> potentially marketable products.
>
> Kirby
>
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