[Edu-sig] Python Reloaded?

[Winston Wolff]

Hello Guido and Vern-

My Python students range from 11 to 16 years old.

I agree that PyGame's setup is too long and laborious.  So I use my  
own wrapper that reduces the setup code to two lines: import and  
create a Screen() object.  I also wrote an IDLE replacement that runs  
the code in a separate process because PyGame was causing page faults  
if ran in a thread.  You can get my PyGame wrapper (I call it  
moonunit) and IDE (I call it MakeBot), both available in one installer  
here:

	http://stratolab.com/misc/makebot/

and the source:

	http://stratolab.com/wiki/doku.php?id=Stratotools

The Windows installer works fine on XP, I haven't tested on Vista. The  
Macintosh installer has not been updated to Leopard yet.  I have it  
mostly running here, but there are some weird problems with OpenGL/ 
Numpy.

-Winston

On Feb 27, 2008, at 12:24 PM, Vern Ceder wrote:

> It depends on how motivated the kids are and how much time you've  
> got, but I would tend to agree with the teacher - in my experience  
> that amount of setup is likely to lose a fair number of them. One  
> option might be GASP, which puts a LiveWires wrapper around pygame.
>
> Vern
>
> Guido van Rossum wrote:
>> How old are your students? We are considering pygame, but the teacher
>> is taken aback by the large amount of setup code needed. Also,  
>> running
>> programs using pygame from IDLE on a Mac seems flaky.
>> On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 7:28 AM, Winston Wolff <winstonw at stratolab.com 
>> > wrote:
>>> My students love anything to do with graphics.  Even making a white
>>> rectangle on the screen and then redrawing it in red is cool.  Also
>>> they love transparency--with PyGame, you can set the alpha and they
>>> love that.
>>>
>>> -Winston
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Feb 26, 2008, at 9:09 PM, Brian Blais wrote:
>>>
>>> > On Feb 26, 2008, at Feb 26:8:22 PM, Guido van Rossum wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> PS. Just watched two groups of 8th grade middle school girls go
>>> >> through their first Python class. Cool! (That's what they said  
>>> too.
>>> >> :-)
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > What did they cover in that class?  I'd be curious to know what  
>>> 8th
>>> > graders consider "cool", after 1 class of programming.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >                       bb
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > Brian Blais
>>> > bblais at bryant.edu
>>> > http://web.bryant.edu/~bblais
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>> > Edu-sig mailing list
>>> > Edu-sig at python.org
>>> > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>>>
>>> Winston Wolff
>>> Stratolab - Kids exploring computers, comics, and robots
>>> (646) 827-2242 - http://stratolab.com
>>>
>>>
>
> -- 
> This time for sure!
>   -Bullwinkle J. Moose
> -----------------------------
> Vern Ceder, Director of Technology
> Canterbury School, 3210 Smith Road, Ft Wayne, IN 46804
> vceder at canterburyschool.org; 260-436-0746; FAX: 260-436-5137

Winston Wolff
Stratolab - Kids exploring computers, comics, and robots
(646) 827-2242 - http://stratolab.com