[Edu-sig] anyone using Python with Sketchup (free Google tool)?

[kirby urner]

I've been going through Ruby tutorials this morning, trying to decide if the
easiest way to program Sketchup is to use Ruby first, then mentally
translate to Python and start using that.  It's a real question, because all
the documentation is about Ruby, given SuPy is a tiny pioneering project
that I wouldn't have heard of had it not been for Driscoll the architect,
one of my blog characters.

The Ruby views got me into the language comparison Youtubes again, where the
lore is getting passed on to a next generation.  This guy thinks Python's
debuggers aren't so great, but then in Python who needs to debug right, it
just works the first time (kidding, only kidding here).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81WHD0IqheI&NR=1  (a guy with advice)

Got there from here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPyJ-siBIls&feature=related  (Bruce comparing
languages)

... the volume level on these two YouTubes is huge.  YouTubes much on my
mind given how Google Video just reminded us they're taking down all Google
Video content in about a month and making just a video search engine (not a
hosting service).  We were encouraged to migrate all our GVs to YT, which
I've been doing.

Here's what it looks like coding for Sketchup in Python:
http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/greg.ewing/SuPy/doc/example.py

Here's a useful video on just the Ruby aspect of things, and doing something
pretty simple:  random pulls on some bricks, to make 'em taller.  Gets the
ball rolling (the sphere doesn't come apart into triangles, is more the
classical gore dome system per latitude / longitude).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq1YEaI2XlA

I have consistently and for many years advocated that CS curricula highlight
a minimum of two languages, because contrast is how to reinforce core
concepts in either.  You don't know what you're looking at until you have
another to compare it two, at which point the concept of "zebra" starts to
come into focus.  Yes, a deliberate over-simplification, duh.  By "contrast"
I also mean close similarities, so perhaps should just say "differences".
This guy's Ruby tutorial has a comfortably familiar sheen to it, for anyone
used to Python:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6It5aK9mJi8&feature=related

So yeah, a Ruby + Python course, where we think of Ruby + Python as "one
language" (almost).  Java/C# would be another combo.  I've often written
about Python / J, as I think the way J is communicated, as a grammar
(complete with parts of speech) is worth the price of admission right
there.  However if you're a stats person, maybe Python / R would be your
better bet?

I've looked into Ruby before, including with its inventor at an OSCON, just
haven't had much practical need for it.

The Systems PhD program at PSU is one of the only one of its kind and
connects to the kind of mathematics they promulgate through Santa Fe
Institute (also Ralph Abraham has done a lot of related work, J.H Conway, D.
Conway (the more brilliant of the two), and of course Wolfram as we all
know).  We've already done a lot of NKS stuff here on edu-sig, using John
Zelle's graphics.py (an adapter for Tk).

Whether Sketchup proves ideal for this work, let alone SuPy, remains to be
seen of course.  Plus I'm not the one doing the work -- am just an adviser.

Students come from around the world attracted by Systems Science, but these
multi-disciplinary subjects have been withering on the vine of late, or so
some people tell me.

Kirby

Chaos Math:
http://4dsolutions.net/ocn/hexapent.html  (HP4E)
http://4dsolutions.net/ocn/life.html  (game of life adapted to hexapent)
http://4dsolutions.net/ocn/fractals.html (Mandelbrot with PIL)
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/2007-February/007736.html (NKS with
Dr. Zelle's resource)

Martian Math:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315@N00/sets/72157622961425831/with/4863299407/


On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 9:08 AM, Vern Ceder <vceder at gmail.com> wrote:

> Now, that's a cool idea! I'll have to pass that along to our engineering
> class, which uses sketchup some...
>
> Thanks,
> Vern
>
> On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 11:34 AM, kirby urner <kirby.urner at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>>
>> sketchuptips.blogspot.com/2009/02/supy-scripting-sketchup-in-python.html
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
>
> --
> Vern Ceder
> vceder at gmail.com, vceder at dogsinmotion.com
> The Quick Python Book, 2nd Ed - http://bit.ly/bRsWDW
>
>
>
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