[Edu-sig] Learning Python via a browser: looking for a name

[Michael Tobis]

On 5/1/06, Andre Roberge <andre.roberge at gmail.com> wrote:
> > So for scalability, deployment, and support as well as security, I
> > think computations should be done on the client, and the end user
> > should not be required to run a localhost server.
>
> Doing (Python) computation on the client is what I already do; the
> localhost server is just a small addition (if doing intensive graphics stuff).

OK, fair enough. Thanks both. Perhaps I was just not thinking clearly
before my first cup of coffee took effect.

I am imagining, ultimately, a very ambitious project relying on
network effects in the social sense. In connecting to the internet in
that context I still think the architecture must be that the student's
machine is an HTTP client, because anything else would raise a lot of
complexity.

However, whether the browser and a custom localhost is involved is a
design decision that is independent of all that, and it is indeed
quite a reasonable approach. I was wrong in suggesting otherwise in my
previous comment.

I was imagining Apache and CGI and an RDBMS and so on, but as Kirby
points out this is completely unnecessary.

mt