[Edu-sig] Python Editor / IDE for HS students

[kirby urner]

> In a beginner's course, it's really helpful to have every student
> using the SAME text editor.  Last year, some of my more experienced

I agree.  On the other hand, computer labs are in general difficult to
manage, because the culture is so much about multitasking and doing
your own thing.  However, during a programmed activity, it's not too
much to ask a student to use this or that teacher-selected text editor
*for awhile.*

Regarding Vim, I make sure my students know that one skill some star
in is running a mean VI, switching windows, searching at break-neck
speeds, generally making the screen a blur unless you read code as
fast as they do.  OK to invest in that, but on your own time please.
This is not the place to bone up on a thousand quirky shortcuts.

> students were adamant about sticking with IDLE while the rest of us
> used Textpad.  It was a little messy because some kids had a fake-DOS
> window open to access the interpreter while others were using the
> interpreter window in IDLE.  Visual consistency from my projection to
> student desktops can help some students through difficult new
> concepts.

There's a lot to be said for IDLE.  Because it's not just a question
of which text editor, it's a question of which shell.  My beginning
Python is very shell intensive.  We don't even mention text editing at
first.

> I teach a little about vi (and pico/nano) in a unit about bash.  I
> like that they'll be able to find vi(m) on just about any
> unix/linux/bsd machine they see from now until the end of computing.
>

I like the ring for a book title:  "The End of Computing:  The Day VI
Died" (but is a favorite editor really dead -- only if it no longer
runs I suppose, implying a different OS).

> I'll give Crust/Alamode a look but probably won't include it in this
> rev of the diskimage though I might use something similar for the
> spring semester.

Yes, it think it'd be useful if the class were about wxPython
programming, but I don't think of that as a beginner topic, although
I'm thinking how it could be, maybe.  Working with these kids is a lot
like working with adults:  they come in the door already all over the
map, in terms of prior experience.  Back to what's hard about managing
a computer lab.

> Last year, instead of going to wxpython for GUI development, we went
> to CGI programming.  The kids already had a sophisticated
> understanding of XHTML/CSS so they could make Python to generate XHTML
> code pretty quickly.   There they learned about many conventional
> windows components via XHTML forms.

I think that's a great approach.  The goal is to quickly get to
realism, so they see how these classroom skills are actually
connecting to what they encounter every day in computer world.  Taking
server-side programmatic control in Python can be an exhilerating
first experience in "real world" gnu math.

Kirby