[Edu-sig] project Euler

[Edward Cherlin]

On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 8:30 AM, kirby urner <kirby.urner at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 11:53 PM, Edward Cherlin <echerlin at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> << SNIP >>
>
>>> So you're doing that in your head?
>>
>> Not at all. I can do this example with paper and pencil, and I would
>> want a calculator or a log table for larger examples. Let's see...
>
> And I would want my Python shell.  I don't own a calculator, have no
> need for one.

I mean the Calculator activity in Sugar, or gcalctool.

>> 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 144 233 377 610 987 1597 2584
>> 2 8 34 144 610 2584
>> 2 10 44 188 798 3382, ok, 4 more terms...Third grade paper and pencil
>> arithmetic for the rest.
>>
>>> I think the word "programming" is misleading in some contexts.
>>
>> I don't use the word for anything that can easily be done on a
>> non-programmable calculator, an abacus, or a half sheet of paper by
>> one with the skills commonly taught (though not very often learned in
>> full) for each.
>
> I'm not that impressed by "commonly taught skills" i.e. if a kid knows
> how to use a TI, but not Python, I'm inclined to move on to the next
> candidate.

EEEE! No! Pencil and paper arithmetic skills, not gadgetry. Multiple
column addition, subtraction, multiplication.

>>> Using Python as a calculator is what Guido mentions in his tutorial.
>>>
>>> Python or TI?
>>>
>>> XO or TI?
>>
>> Similarly for APL and J.
>>
>
> Yes, as I've mentioned, APL was my first language and I've worked with
> Iverson himself on a paper about J.  I heard from Roger Hui just the
> other day.  Part of why I fell in love with Python is because of its
> orthogonal primitives, feels like APL in some ways.  Plus the whole OO
> thing is way cool, highly accessible.
>
> My oft stated preference is to NOT ever (ever) get stuck in teaching
> just one language, even if one emphasizes just one in this or that
> classroom or on-line session.

We have to get away from the notion that "teaching programming" =
"teaching language syntax". That's why I am working on a set of
demonstrations of programming and Computer Science ideas in Turtle
Art, where children can create programs directly as trees, not linear
texts that a parser turns into a tree for execution.

> Per some brain science I've been
> studying, we really do *not* multitask, even though we appear to, any
> more than an Intel chip really does (OK, some do, but at one time it
> was all round robin).
>
> Kirby


-- 
Silent Thunder (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) is my name
And Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, The Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/User:Mokurai (Ed Cherlin)