[Edu-sig] Why Python?

[kirby urner]

<< snip >>

Ed Cherlin wrote:

> I propose to teach children the basics of the essential features used
> in all of the major languages, in primary school. My short list of
> really major concepts includes
>
> arithmetic (prefix in LISP, postfix in FORTH, infix everywhere else)
> variable names are pronouns
> namespaces
> Boolean algebra
> sets
> permutations, sorting, and searching
> combinatorics
> lists of lists (LISP, SCHEME)
> arrays (APL)
> forests (arrays of trees, J)
> OOP (Smalltalk, Python)
> minimal syntaxes with neither parentheses nor precedence
> parse trees
> first-class functions
> functional programming
> number base/polynomial equivalence
> data/program equivalence
> database
> topological (dependence) sorting for spreadsheets
>

I'd be interested in an adaptation of this curriculum for teens
to adults.

Or maybe we'd use the elementary comix or cartoons or
whatever you're using, in addition to the various languages.
Adults learn a lot from kid-oriented materials (Sesame
Street for example -- teaches a lot about how to make
cool YouTubes, lightning talks).

I'm looking to advance adult / child understanding and
appreciation for polyhedra as well, a traditional Renaissance
focus.  The five Platonics and their duals (the five Platonics)
plus dual-combos (combining duals to get new polys):
that's a theme for anime in bars as well as schools.

http://coffeeshopsnet.blogspot.com/2010/04/smart-bar-lcds.html

Kirby