From jjposner at optimum.net  Wed Mar  6 16:56:58 2013
From: jjposner at optimum.net (John Posner)
Date: Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:56:58 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Python MOOC (massive open online course)
Message-ID: <5137674A.5040505@optimum.net>

At the nytimes.com site, I came across a reference to this Python course
in the comments to Thomas Friedman's latest column:

http://blog.topfreeclasses.com/2012/12/an-introduction-to-interactive-python.html

Does anyone have any direct knowledge of this (or any other) Python MOOC?

-John


From kirby.urner at gmail.com  Wed Mar  6 19:45:52 2013
From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner)
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2013 10:45:52 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] Python MOOC (massive open online course)
In-Reply-To: <5137674A.5040505@optimum.net>
References: <5137674A.5040505@optimum.net>
Message-ID: <CAPJgG3SFsi9my+BdSFLOPEiQjVGXWuB1C1Ov5rmRxgvXmdp7CQ@mail.gmail.com>

On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 7:56 AM, John Posner <jjposner at optimum.net> wrote:
At the nytimes.com site, I came across a reference to this Python course
in the comments to Thomas Friedman's latest column:

http://blog.topfreeclasses.com/2012/12/an-introduction-to-interactive-python.html

Does anyone have any direct knowledge of this (or any other) Python MOOC?

-John

===

My friend David Feinstein, a Cal Tech trained applied mathematician of
considerable talent, recently did Coursera's Python and had many positive
things to say about it.  If you know David, you know he does not give
praise easily or lightly.  He's usually critical.  He has high standards.

He appreciated the learning curve, and it probably helps a lot that he's
come to respect Python-the-language.  He liked how commenting on other
students' work is a part of what it takes to advance with one's cohort and
officially complete the course, with a ranking (percent score).

David's motive is he has some interesting software that helps judges reach
consensus on a ranking of projects (think of science fairs), even where no
judge will have directly seen or assessed all the projects.  By projecting
various summary visuals, judges caucus (negotiate) and play "what if"
games.  I hope to introduce him to Edd Dumbhill of O'Reilly as some of this
thinking might help with our OSCON talk judging/scoring process.

I have not personally had time to do a MOOC.  My job is to teach Python
using distance education infrastructure, but our offering has a cost and a
different set of criteria, so would not fit the category "MOOC".  Many
models of service delivery are out there.

Kirby
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From calcpage at aol.com  Wed Mar  6 21:33:30 2013
From: calcpage at aol.com (A. Jorge Garcia)
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2013 15:33:30 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Edu-sig] LIMACON SUNY Old Westbury 3/15/13
In-Reply-To: <CAPJgG3SFsi9my+BdSFLOPEiQjVGXWuB1C1Ov5rmRxgvXmdp7CQ@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CAPJgG3SFsi9my+BdSFLOPEiQjVGXWuB1C1Ov5rmRxgvXmdp7CQ@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <8CFE8C0FF222250-1004-69A1@webmail-m216.sysops.aol.com>

FYI:I'll be speaking at LIMACON SUNY Old Westbury 3/15/13 about using 
SAGE and python to teach High School preCalculus!

http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2013/03/limacon-2013-looming-large.html

HTH,
A. Jorge Garcia
Applied Math, Physics and CS
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009



From kirby.urner at gmail.com  Fri Mar 15 01:28:26 2013
From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner)
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:28:26 -0700
Subject: [Edu-sig] post Education Summit at Pycon
Message-ID: <CAPJgG3Tvyo2FccBZasdptGZvUQ4xK9ghXvenF42f=HH2Land+A@mail.gmail.com>

Greetings from Pycon 2013 in Santa Clara.

We enjoyed a day long Education Summit on Pi Day today (3/14) an pun
(py vs pi) that did not go unnoticed.

The program featured a keynote by Walter Bender, founder of Sugarlabs,
followed by an unconference of three consecutive sessions and seven
lightning talks, culled from a longer list of proposals by public
voting process.

Topics were wide-ranging, with quite a bit of focus on IPython,
IPython Notebooks and IPython Blocks.

The Scratch-like graphical Turtle Art program that runs on the XO (or
in an XO VM) was another focus of attention.

Guido joined us and participated actively in the Q&A during one of the panels.

Thanks to all the organizers and sponsors, Naomi in particular, for
making this happen.

Kirby


A first blog post:

http://controlroom.blogspot.com/2013/03/pycon-2013.html  (cluttered
with autobiographical extranea)

From calcpage at aol.com  Fri Mar 15 20:33:29 2013
From: calcpage at aol.com (A. Jorge Garcia)
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:33:29 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Edu-sig] LIMACON SUNY Old Westbury 3/15/13
In-Reply-To: <8CFE8C0FF222250-1004-69A1@webmail-m216.sysops.aol.com>
References: <8CFE8C0FF222250-1004-69A1@webmail-m216.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <8CFEFCB1B0CBDEA-13E4-58E5@webmail-d163.sysops.aol.com>

Just finished my presentation: "SAGE Advice. Let's replace TI83s with 
SAGE and python in preCalculus class!"

http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2013/03/limacon-2013-looming-large.html

HTH,
A. Jorge Garcia
Applied Math, Physics and CS
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009



From missive at hotmail.com  Sun Mar 17 01:12:59 2013
From: missive at hotmail.com (Lee Harr)
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2013 04:42:59 +0430
Subject: [Edu-sig] [ANNC] pynguin-0.13 python turtle graphics application
 now uses python 3
Message-ID: <BLU168-W96F128EFCAA20324B9E710B1EF0@phx.gbl>


Pynguin is a python-based turtle graphics application.
??? It combines an editor, interactive interpreter, and
??? graphics display area.

It is meant to be an easy environment for introducing
??? some programming concepts to beginning programmers.


http://pynguin.googlecode.com/


This release ports Pynguin to Python 3.


Pynguin is tested with Python 3.2.3 and PyQt 4.9.3 and
??? will use Pygments syntax highlighting if available.

Pynguin is released under GPLv3.


Changes in pynguin-0.13:
??? Now uses (requires) Python 3
??????? - Tested with Python 3.2.3

??? Important fixes
??????? - New approach for threading of user code
??????????? - should provide safer, more reliable, termination of user code
??????????? - can now reliably stop code like ... while 1: pass
??????? - Preserves fill state and color when changing avatar

??? Other fixes
??????? - Preserves name label when changing avatar
??????? - Tries harder to go as fast as possible for "instant" setting
??????????? - throttles back on CPU when not running user code

??? Pynguin API
??????? - Logo-mode coordinates and angles now available
??????????? - Switch mode using Pynguin -> Mode -> Logo
??????????? - or create new instance with mlogo=ModeLogo()
??????? - Python turtle-mode coordinates and angles now available
??????????? - Switch mode using Pynguin -> Mode -> Turtle
??????????? - or create new instance with mturtle=ModeTurtle()
??????? - xy(x, y) re-uses goto(x, y) code
??????? - xyh() uses xy() and h() to retrieve values
??????? - color() takes an optional alpha channel value for transparency
??????????? - color('ralpha') chooses a random color with random alpha
??????? - Each pynguin's speed can now be set individually

??? Canvas
??????? - Added a dialog for pen, background, and fill default colors
??????????? - sets these colors on program startup
??????????? - uses these colors for reset()
??????????? - also used when adding new pynguins
??????? - Can now track any pynguin
??????? - Can zoom to fit entire drawing

??? UI
??????? - Added new Pynguin menu for avatar and mode selection
??????? - Added alpha value selector to pen and fill color dialogs

??? Integrated Editor

??? Integrated Console

??? Examples
??????? - All ported to Python 3
??????? - Added examples using colors with alpha channel values
??????? - Added finish line to horserace

 		 	   		  

From pythonic.math at gmail.com  Sun Mar 17 04:14:33 2013
From: pythonic.math at gmail.com (michel paul)
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2013 20:14:33 -0700
Subject: [Edu-sig] Python Epistemology
Message-ID: <CANuze1+1-34XASccBaiDis_Kpty=r7nhZVqwKa6UnFzpC1Xt6A@mail.gmail.com>

This was the title of a 5-minute 'lightening talk' by Allen Downey, author
of Think Python
<http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/html/index.html>, during
the educational summit here at PyCon. Main points:

*

   - Nat
   ural L
   ang
   uage
   : expressive and readable, but verbose and imprecise.
   - Math
   ematical notation
   : concise and precise, but not readable or executable.
   - M
   ost
   programming languages: precise and executable, but verbose and not
   readable.


Hmmm ... can anyone think of an expressive, readable, concise, precise, and
executable symbolic language? : )

He went on to show a traditional mathematical formula representing Bayesian
inference and compared it to the corresponding Python code. The Python code
was similar to natural language and represented a flow of ideas. It was
comprehensible. His point was that we often think we need to first express
our ideas in traditional mathematical notation and then translate the math
into executable code. But his point was no, we can code our ideas directly.
It is a new kind of mathematical expression.

I was so delighted to hear this, as these are the conclusions I have come
to as well. It's absolutely true that coding reflectively helps clarify
one's ideas, and this is why it belongs in education. I've repeatedly had
the experience that coding something I had long taken for granted in math
got me to see it in a new light. I've come to view traditional math syntax
as a kind of clever shorthand we developed before we had computers. I think
the traditional syntax creates a kind of cognitive illusion in students and
teachers that that's 'really' the math.
And then throwing calculators into the mix just solidifies the illusion.
Everyone in K-12, students and teachers, thinks that the math is 'really'
on a piece of paper, in traditional notation, and that the technology is
something on the side we turn to in order to help us get the math onto the
paper when the calculations get too tough. I think that picture is flawed
and antiquated. The technology itself is the new paper. Computational
languages are the new algebra.
*

PyCon was amazing. It was my first one. Very inspiring. Time definitely
well spent.

-- 
Michel

===================================
"What I cannot create, I do not understand."

- Richard Feynman
===================================
"Computer science is the new mathematics."

- Dr. Christos Papadimitriou
===================================
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From kurner at oreillyschool.com  Sun Mar 17 06:07:23 2013
From: kurner at oreillyschool.com (Kirby Urner)
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2013 22:07:23 -0700
Subject: [Edu-sig] Python Epistemology
In-Reply-To: <CANuze1+1-34XASccBaiDis_Kpty=r7nhZVqwKa6UnFzpC1Xt6A@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CANuze1+1-34XASccBaiDis_Kpty=r7nhZVqwKa6UnFzpC1Xt6A@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CAGe4BMHvbYap6Lp9O97Mht6H+TpQwP-3y+Q5134c8JhiuQ=eaA@mail.gmail.com>

On Sat, Mar 16, 2013 at 8:14 PM, michel paul <pythonic.math at gmail.com>wrote:

> This was the title of a 5-minute 'lightening talk' by Allen Downey, author
> of Think Python <http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/html/index.html>, during
> the educational summit here at PyCon. Main points:
>
> *
>
>    - Nat
>    ural L
>    ang
>    uage
>    : expressive and readable, but verbose and imprecise.
>    - Math
>    ematical notation
>    : concise and precise, but not readable or executable.
>    - M
>    ost
>    programming languages: precise and executable, but verbose and not
>    readable.
>
>
> Hmmm ... can anyone think of an expressive, readable, concise, precise,
> and executable symbolic language? : )
>
> *
>

 Yes. I introduced myself to Allen later during coffee break, saying I
recommend his book rather frequently to my students (an O'Reilly book after
all, though also free on the web).  I was thinking of 'Thinking Python'
which inherits though 'How to Think...' and Jeff Elkner's edition.

However, I should also be reading, then recommending his 'Thinking
Complexity' as I think that whole field, of fractals, butterfly effects,
cellular automata, is providing that wealth of material we need wherein
pre-computer mathematics stays relevant for sure, but needs our new tools
and notations in addition.

I'm not saying that to be exclusive of other areas of mathematics.  Those
of us old enough remember the big splash fractals made, because of their
merit as art objects, by which I mean nothing dismissive either.  Suddenly,
our computer graphics capabilities were being exercised to their max.  Plus
now there's the Mandelbulb.

*
> He went on to show a traditional mathematical formula representing
> Bayesian inference and compared it to the corresponding Python code. The
> Python code was similar to natural language and represented a flow of
> ideas. It was comprehensible. His point was that we often think we need to
> first express our ideas in traditional mathematical notation and then
> translate the math into executable code. But his point was no, we can code
> our ideas directly. It is a new kind of mathematical expression.
> *
>

Even just a single Sigma becomes more comprehensible as a for loop, or even
a generator where infinite sequences and series are concerned.

http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/overcome.html



> *
>
> I was so delighted to hear this, as these are the conclusions I have come
> to as well. It's absolutely true that coding reflectively helps clarify
> one's ideas, and this is why it belongs in education. I've repeatedly had
> the experience that coding something I had long taken for granted in math
> got me to see it in a new light. I've come to view traditional math syntax
> as a kind of clever shorthand we developed before we had computers. I think
> the traditional syntax creates a kind of cognitive illusion in students and
> teachers that that's 'really' the math.
> And then throwing calculators into the mix just solidifies the illusion.
> Everyone in K-12, students and teachers, thinks that the math is 'really'
> on a piece of paper, in traditional notation, and that the technology is
> something on the side we turn to in order to help us get the math onto the
> paper when the calculations get too tough. I think that picture is flawed
> and antiquated. The technology itself is the new paper. Computational
> languages are the new algebra.
> *
>
>
We're on the same page as the Mathematica people here, and I don't think we
should worry about any winner-take-all, king-of-the-hill story here.
IPython Notebook has a Mathematica flavor and that's fine, so does Sage.
We're in a synergy relationship.

That's especially true in the space of my workplace, where a lot of the
brain cycles have been committed to Hilbert, software that brings in
Mathematica over the server to a browser-based client.  Others of us teach
Python and other executable notations.  Per your integrating vision, it's
all one domain.

http://www.makingmath.com/  (same group as O'Reilly School)



> PyCon was amazing. It was my first one. Very inspiring. Time definitely
> well spent.
>
> --
> Michel
>

Glad we got to meet.

I know my little talk was kinda quirky, and that sometimes worries newbies
(my somewhat stream of consciousness style...), but they tend to be
reassured that I'm a known quantity, my quirkiness just part of my style.

I gave my talk again with different emphasis in the Great Hall on Saturday
morning.  My gave more focus to my "generator tractor" and the fact that it
takes data in through yield, doesn't just give data out.

This proved to be a good segue to Raymond Hettinger's keynote I thought.
He was likewise extolling the virtues of the keyword 'yield' as among
Python's salient and cutting-edge features.

Kirby
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From jeff at elkner.net  Sun Mar 17 14:31:57 2013
From: jeff at elkner.net (Jeff Elkner)
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2013 09:31:57 -0400
Subject: [Edu-sig] Edu-sig Digest, Vol 116, Issue 4
In-Reply-To: <mailman.17648.1363496852.2938.edu-sig@python.org>
References: <mailman.17648.1363496852.2938.edu-sig@python.org>
Message-ID: <CABkKac926m1p6XytXaiLLRhJTD3jphuFL=eG+AKqRqG94zGp_A@mail.gmail.com>

Lee, if you are looking for a classroom teacher to try out pyguin in
the classroom, sign me up!  I'll have it installed in my lab on
Thursday, when I return, in any case.  It rocks!

Now a question:  how difficult would it be to get pyguin to output svg images?

Jeff Elkner

On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 1:07 AM,  <edu-sig-request at python.org> wrote:
> Send Edu-sig mailing list submissions to
>         edu-sig at python.org
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
>         http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
>         edu-sig-request at python.org
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
>         edu-sig-owner at python.org
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Edu-sig digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. [ANNC] pynguin-0.13 python turtle graphics application now
>       uses python 3 (Lee Harr)
>    2. Python Epistemology (michel paul)
>    3. Re: Python Epistemology (Kirby Urner)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2013 04:42:59 +0430
> From: Lee Harr <missive at hotmail.com>
> To: "python-list at python.org" <python-list at python.org>,
>         "edu-sig at python.org"    <edu-sig at python.org>
> Subject: [Edu-sig] [ANNC] pynguin-0.13 python turtle graphics
>         application now uses python 3
> Message-ID: <BLU168-W96F128EFCAA20324B9E710B1EF0 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1256"
>
>
> Pynguin is a python-based turtle graphics application.
> ??? It combines an editor, interactive interpreter, and
> ??? graphics display area.
>
> It is meant to be an easy environment for introducing
> ??? some programming concepts to beginning programmers.
>
>
> http://pynguin.googlecode.com/
>
>
> This release ports Pynguin to Python 3.
>
>
> Pynguin is tested with Python 3.2.3 and PyQt 4.9.3 and
> ??? will use Pygments syntax highlighting if available.
>
> Pynguin is released under GPLv3.
>
>
> Changes in pynguin-0.13:
> ??? Now uses (requires) Python 3
> ??????? - Tested with Python 3.2.3
>
> ??? Important fixes
> ??????? - New approach for threading of user code
> ??????????? - should provide safer, more reliable, termination of user code
> ??????????? - can now reliably stop code like ... while 1: pass
> ??????? - Preserves fill state and color when changing avatar
>
> ??? Other fixes
> ??????? - Preserves name label when changing avatar
> ??????? - Tries harder to go as fast as possible for "instant" setting
> ??????????? - throttles back on CPU when not running user code
>
> ??? Pynguin API
> ??????? - Logo-mode coordinates and angles now available
> ??????????? - Switch mode using Pynguin -> Mode -> Logo
> ??????????? - or create new instance with mlogo=ModeLogo()
> ??????? - Python turtle-mode coordinates and angles now available
> ??????????? - Switch mode using Pynguin -> Mode -> Turtle
> ??????????? - or create new instance with mturtle=ModeTurtle()
> ??????? - xy(x, y) re-uses goto(x, y) code
> ??????? - xyh() uses xy() and h() to retrieve values
> ??????? - color() takes an optional alpha channel value for transparency
> ??????????? - color('ralpha') chooses a random color with random alpha
> ??????? - Each pynguin's speed can now be set individually
>
> ??? Canvas
> ??????? - Added a dialog for pen, background, and fill default colors
> ??????????? - sets these colors on program startup
> ??????????? - uses these colors for reset()
> ??????????? - also used when adding new pynguins
> ??????? - Can now track any pynguin
> ??????? - Can zoom to fit entire drawing
>
> ??? UI
> ??????? - Added new Pynguin menu for avatar and mode selection
> ??????? - Added alpha value selector to pen and fill color dialogs
>
> ??? Integrated Editor
>
> ??? Integrated Console
>
> ??? Examples
> ??????? - All ported to Python 3
> ??????? - Added examples using colors with alpha channel values
> ??????? - Added finish line to horserace
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2013 20:14:33 -0700
> From: michel paul <pythonic.math at gmail.com>
> To: edu-sig at python.org
> Subject: [Edu-sig] Python Epistemology
> Message-ID:
>         <CANuze1+1-34XASccBaiDis_Kpty=r7nhZVqwKa6UnFzpC1Xt6A at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> This was the title of a 5-minute 'lightening talk' by Allen Downey, author
> of Think Python
> <http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/html/index.html>, during
> the educational summit here at PyCon. Main points:
>
> *
>
>    - Nat
>    ural L
>    ang
>    uage
>    : expressive and readable, but verbose and imprecise.
>    - Math
>    ematical notation
>    : concise and precise, but not readable or executable.
>    - M
>    ost
>    programming languages: precise and executable, but verbose and not
>    readable.
>
>
> Hmmm ... can anyone think of an expressive, readable, concise, precise, and
> executable symbolic language? : )
>
> He went on to show a traditional mathematical formula representing Bayesian
> inference and compared it to the corresponding Python code. The Python code
> was similar to natural language and represented a flow of ideas. It was
> comprehensible. His point was that we often think we need to first express
> our ideas in traditional mathematical notation and then translate the math
> into executable code. But his point was no, we can code our ideas directly.
> It is a new kind of mathematical expression.
>
> I was so delighted to hear this, as these are the conclusions I have come
> to as well. It's absolutely true that coding reflectively helps clarify
> one's ideas, and this is why it belongs in education. I've repeatedly had
> the experience that coding something I had long taken for granted in math
> got me to see it in a new light. I've come to view traditional math syntax
> as a kind of clever shorthand we developed before we had computers. I think
> the traditional syntax creates a kind of cognitive illusion in students and
> teachers that that's 'really' the math.
> And then throwing calculators into the mix just solidifies the illusion.
> Everyone in K-12, students and teachers, thinks that the math is 'really'
> on a piece of paper, in traditional notation, and that the technology is
> something on the side we turn to in order to help us get the math onto the
> paper when the calculations get too tough. I think that picture is flawed
> and antiquated. The technology itself is the new paper. Computational
> languages are the new algebra.
> *
>
> PyCon was amazing. It was my first one. Very inspiring. Time definitely
> well spent.
>
> --
> Michel
>
> ===================================
> "What I cannot create, I do not understand."
>
> - Richard Feynman
> ===================================
> "Computer science is the new mathematics."
>
> - Dr. Christos Papadimitriou
> ===================================
> -------------- next part --------------
> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/attachments/20130316/3c58f9bb/attachment-0001.html>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2013 22:07:23 -0700
> From: Kirby Urner <kurner at oreillyschool.com>
> To: michel paul <pythonic.math at gmail.com>
> Cc: edu-sig at python.org
> Subject: Re: [Edu-sig] Python Epistemology
> Message-ID:
>         <CAGe4BMHvbYap6Lp9O97Mht6H+TpQwP-3y+Q5134c8JhiuQ=eaA at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> On Sat, Mar 16, 2013 at 8:14 PM, michel paul <pythonic.math at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> This was the title of a 5-minute 'lightening talk' by Allen Downey, author
>> of Think Python <http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/html/index.html>, during
>> the educational summit here at PyCon. Main points:
>>
>> *
>>
>>    - Nat
>>    ural L
>>    ang
>>    uage
>>    : expressive and readable, but verbose and imprecise.
>>    - Math
>>    ematical notation
>>    : concise and precise, but not readable or executable.
>>    - M
>>    ost
>>    programming languages: precise and executable, but verbose and not
>>    readable.
>>
>>
>> Hmmm ... can anyone think of an expressive, readable, concise, precise,
>> and executable symbolic language? : )
>>
>> *
>>
>
>  Yes. I introduced myself to Allen later during coffee break, saying I
> recommend his book rather frequently to my students (an O'Reilly book after
> all, though also free on the web).  I was thinking of 'Thinking Python'
> which inherits though 'How to Think...' and Jeff Elkner's edition.
>
> However, I should also be reading, then recommending his 'Thinking
> Complexity' as I think that whole field, of fractals, butterfly effects,
> cellular automata, is providing that wealth of material we need wherein
> pre-computer mathematics stays relevant for sure, but needs our new tools
> and notations in addition.
>
> I'm not saying that to be exclusive of other areas of mathematics.  Those
> of us old enough remember the big splash fractals made, because of their
> merit as art objects, by which I mean nothing dismissive either.  Suddenly,
> our computer graphics capabilities were being exercised to their max.  Plus
> now there's the Mandelbulb.
>
> *
>> He went on to show a traditional mathematical formula representing
>> Bayesian inference and compared it to the corresponding Python code. The
>> Python code was similar to natural language and represented a flow of
>> ideas. It was comprehensible. His point was that we often think we need to
>> first express our ideas in traditional mathematical notation and then
>> translate the math into executable code. But his point was no, we can code
>> our ideas directly. It is a new kind of mathematical expression.
>> *
>>
>
> Even just a single Sigma becomes more comprehensible as a for loop, or even
> a generator where infinite sequences and series are concerned.
>
> http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/overcome.html
>
>
>
>> *
>>
>> I was so delighted to hear this, as these are the conclusions I have come
>> to as well. It's absolutely true that coding reflectively helps clarify
>> one's ideas, and this is why it belongs in education. I've repeatedly had
>> the experience that coding something I had long taken for granted in math
>> got me to see it in a new light. I've come to view traditional math syntax
>> as a kind of clever shorthand we developed before we had computers. I think
>> the traditional syntax creates a kind of cognitive illusion in students and
>> teachers that that's 'really' the math.
>> And then throwing calculators into the mix just solidifies the illusion.
>> Everyone in K-12, students and teachers, thinks that the math is 'really'
>> on a piece of paper, in traditional notation, and that the technology is
>> something on the side we turn to in order to help us get the math onto the
>> paper when the calculations get too tough. I think that picture is flawed
>> and antiquated. The technology itself is the new paper. Computational
>> languages are the new algebra.
>> *
>>
>>
> We're on the same page as the Mathematica people here, and I don't think we
> should worry about any winner-take-all, king-of-the-hill story here.
> IPython Notebook has a Mathematica flavor and that's fine, so does Sage.
> We're in a synergy relationship.
>
> That's especially true in the space of my workplace, where a lot of the
> brain cycles have been committed to Hilbert, software that brings in
> Mathematica over the server to a browser-based client.  Others of us teach
> Python and other executable notations.  Per your integrating vision, it's
> all one domain.
>
> http://www.makingmath.com/  (same group as O'Reilly School)
>
>
>
>> PyCon was amazing. It was my first one. Very inspiring. Time definitely
>> well spent.
>>
>> --
>> Michel
>>
>
> Glad we got to meet.
>
> I know my little talk was kinda quirky, and that sometimes worries newbies
> (my somewhat stream of consciousness style...), but they tend to be
> reassured that I'm a known quantity, my quirkiness just part of my style.
>
> I gave my talk again with different emphasis in the Great Hall on Saturday
> morning.  My gave more focus to my "generator tractor" and the fact that it
> takes data in through yield, doesn't just give data out.
>
> This proved to be a good segue to Raymond Hettinger's keynote I thought.
> He was likewise extolling the virtues of the keyword 'yield' as among
> Python's salient and cutting-edge features.
>
> Kirby
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Subject: Digest Footer
>
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of Edu-sig Digest, Vol 116, Issue 4
> ***************************************

From kurner at oreillyschool.com  Sun Mar 17 15:57:30 2013
From: kurner at oreillyschool.com (Kirby Urner)
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2013 07:57:30 -0700
Subject: [Edu-sig] Edu-sig Digest, Vol 116, Issue 4
In-Reply-To: <CABkKac926m1p6XytXaiLLRhJTD3jphuFL=eG+AKqRqG94zGp_A@mail.gmail.com>
References: <mailman.17648.1363496852.2938.edu-sig@python.org>
	<CABkKac926m1p6XytXaiLLRhJTD3jphuFL=eG+AKqRqG94zGp_A@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CAGe4BMF9TMhhNVVp3KL11QqPCikYvnVqKTTbnZpsb5L4HKn0vA@mail.gmail.com>

On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 6:31 AM, Jeff Elkner <jeff at elkner.net> wrote:

> Lee, if you are looking for a classroom teacher to try out pyguin in
> the classroom, sign me up!  I'll have it installed in my lab on
> Thursday, when I return, in any case.  It rocks!
>
> Now a question:  how difficult would it be to get pyguin to output svg
> images?
>
> Jeff Elkner
>

Jeff's notion that one should be able to save at least some turtle art as
SVG files seems brilliant to me.

Unless I'm mistaken, most turtles simply change the state of a bitmapped
canvas and have trouble even reading single pixels after that (e.g. what
color is 300,201 -- not easy to know).

Moving to SVG would be like moving to Postscript for output. Non-trivial.

I agree with Jeff, one could develop an application wherein turtles to add
to an SVG file under the hood, allowing output that scales.

On Googling, I found this project that was (is?) moving in that direction:

http://codeboje.de/pysvg-meets-trundle-turle/

Kirby
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From jeff at elkner.net  Sun Mar 17 22:00:01 2013
From: jeff at elkner.net (Jeff Elkner)
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:00:01 -0400
Subject: [Edu-sig] Edu-sig Digest, Vol 116, Issue 4
In-Reply-To: <CAGe4BMF9TMhhNVVp3KL11QqPCikYvnVqKTTbnZpsb5L4HKn0vA@mail.gmail.com>
References: <mailman.17648.1363496852.2938.edu-sig@python.org>
	<CABkKac926m1p6XytXaiLLRhJTD3jphuFL=eG+AKqRqG94zGp_A@mail.gmail.com>
	<CAGe4BMF9TMhhNVVp3KL11QqPCikYvnVqKTTbnZpsb5L4HKn0vA@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CABkKac9pWXtEsGmsNSidVA23cxoqa_8FsC4gqWkC1D2fT3R4Hw@mail.gmail.com>

Walter's Turtle Blocks already saves as SVG, and it's written in Python.

On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 10:57 AM, Kirby Urner <kurner at oreillyschool.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 6:31 AM, Jeff Elkner <jeff at elkner.net> wrote:
>>
>> Lee, if you are looking for a classroom teacher to try out pyguin in
>> the classroom, sign me up!  I'll have it installed in my lab on
>> Thursday, when I return, in any case.  It rocks!
>>
>> Now a question:  how difficult would it be to get pyguin to output svg
>> images?
>>
>> Jeff Elkner
>
>
> Jeff's notion that one should be able to save at least some turtle art as
> SVG files seems brilliant to me.
>
> Unless I'm mistaken, most turtles simply change the state of a bitmapped
> canvas and have trouble even reading single pixels after that (e.g. what
> color is 300,201 -- not easy to know).
>
> Moving to SVG would be like moving to Postscript for output. Non-trivial.
>
> I agree with Jeff, one could develop an application wherein turtles to add
> to an SVG file under the hood, allowing output that scales.
>
> On Googling, I found this project that was (is?) moving in that direction:
>
> http://codeboje.de/pysvg-meets-trundle-turle/
>
> Kirby
>
>
>

From kirby.urner at gmail.com  Sun Mar 17 22:31:38 2013
From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner)
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2013 14:31:38 -0700
Subject: [Edu-sig] Edu-sig Digest, Vol 116, Issue 4
In-Reply-To: <CABkKac9pWXtEsGmsNSidVA23cxoqa_8FsC4gqWkC1D2fT3R4Hw@mail.gmail.com>
References: <mailman.17648.1363496852.2938.edu-sig@python.org>
	<CABkKac926m1p6XytXaiLLRhJTD3jphuFL=eG+AKqRqG94zGp_A@mail.gmail.com>
	<CAGe4BMF9TMhhNVVp3KL11QqPCikYvnVqKTTbnZpsb5L4HKn0vA@mail.gmail.com>
	<CABkKac9pWXtEsGmsNSidVA23cxoqa_8FsC4gqWkC1D2fT3R4Hw@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CAPJgG3RDoeYwpP-m2ch+TKp0X4e9Ounwka16F4K4gdqoDY8piQ@mail.gmail.com>

On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 2:00 PM, Jeff Elkner <jeff at elkner.net> wrote:
> Walter's Turtle Blocks already saves as SVG, and it's written in Python.
>

Wow, I didn't realize Turtle Blocks already had SVG output implemented!

I'm heading towards running Sugar on my Mac OS VirtualBox.

Kirby

From missive at hotmail.com  Sun Mar 17 22:34:30 2013
From: missive at hotmail.com (Lee Harr)
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2013 02:04:30 +0430
Subject: [Edu-sig] Edu-sig Digest, Vol 116, Issue 4
Message-ID: <BLU168-W3537ADE3C88E8068421D42B1EF0@phx.gbl>


> Lee, if you are looking for a classroom teacher to try out pynguin in
> the classroom, sign me up! ?I'll have it installed in my lab on
> Thursday, when I return, in any case. ?It rocks!

Thanks! Glad to hear it!


> Now a question: ?how difficult would it be to get pynguin to output svg images?

Turns out with QGraphicsScene it's actually pretty easy.
Try replacing the MainWindow.export() method in mw.py with this:


? ? def export(self):

? ? ? ? for pynguin in self.pynguins:
? ? ? ? ? ? pynguin.gitem.hide()

? ? ? ? from PyQt4 import QtSvg
? ? ? ? svgen = QtSvg.QSvgGenerator()
? ? ? ? svgen.setFileName('test.svg')
? ? ? ? svgen.setSize(QtCore.QSize(500, 500))
? ? ? ? svgen.setViewBox(QtCore.QRect(-250, -250, 500, 500))
? ? ? ? svgen.setTitle('Test SVG Output')
? ? ? ? svgen.setDescription('PyQt SVG Generator')
? ? ? ? painter = QtGui.QPainter(svgen)
? ? ? ? self.scene.render(painter)
? ? ? ? painter.end()

? ? ? ? for pynguin in self.pynguins:
? ? ? ? ? ? pynguin.gitem.show()



It's just a proof-of-concept, but it definitely works.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will look at adding that
option for the next release.

 		 	   		  

From jeff at elkner.net  Sun Mar 17 22:36:59 2013
From: jeff at elkner.net (Jeff Elkner)
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:36:59 -0400
Subject: [Edu-sig] Edu-sig Digest, Vol 116, Issue 4
In-Reply-To: <CAPJgG3RDoeYwpP-m2ch+TKp0X4e9Ounwka16F4K4gdqoDY8piQ@mail.gmail.com>
References: <mailman.17648.1363496852.2938.edu-sig@python.org>
	<CABkKac926m1p6XytXaiLLRhJTD3jphuFL=eG+AKqRqG94zGp_A@mail.gmail.com>
	<CAGe4BMF9TMhhNVVp3KL11QqPCikYvnVqKTTbnZpsb5L4HKn0vA@mail.gmail.com>
	<CABkKac9pWXtEsGmsNSidVA23cxoqa_8FsC4gqWkC1D2fT3R4Hw@mail.gmail.com>
	<CAPJgG3RDoeYwpP-m2ch+TKp0X4e9Ounwka16F4K4gdqoDY8piQ@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CABkKac_sSNd9VEDSq_m_9jy1m034bXiJyT-tYn-4x7qvwXA3-g@mail.gmail.com>

Turtle Blocks also runs very well in Gnome.  You don't have to install
Sugar to run it.  I wish this were more widely known, since it could
help increase the number of educators using it.  There is a debian
package in the repositories for a very old version.  Matt Gallagher is
working on an updated package.

On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 5:31 PM, kirby urner <kirby.urner at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 2:00 PM, Jeff Elkner <jeff at elkner.net> wrote:
>> Walter's Turtle Blocks already saves as SVG, and it's written in Python.
>>
>
> Wow, I didn't realize Turtle Blocks already had SVG output implemented!
>
> I'm heading towards running Sugar on my Mac OS VirtualBox.
>
> Kirby

From kurner at oreillyschool.com  Tue Mar 19 17:17:07 2013
From: kurner at oreillyschool.com (Kirby Urner)
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:17:07 -0700
Subject: [Edu-sig] Python Epistemology
In-Reply-To: <CAGe4BMHvbYap6Lp9O97Mht6H+TpQwP-3y+Q5134c8JhiuQ=eaA@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CANuze1+1-34XASccBaiDis_Kpty=r7nhZVqwKa6UnFzpC1Xt6A@mail.gmail.com>
	<CAGe4BMHvbYap6Lp9O97Mht6H+TpQwP-3y+Q5134c8JhiuQ=eaA@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CAGe4BMFZ5kDyucAB+S-v1nNBfd-tFWPS2hBrc7m62f74ZarwSw@mail.gmail.com>

On Sat, Mar 16, 2013 at 10:07 PM, Kirby Urner <kurner at oreillyschool.com>wrote:

<< snip >>


> We're on the same page as the Mathematica people here, and I don't think
> we should worry about any winner-take-all, king-of-the-hill story here.
> IPython Notebook has a Mathematica flavor and that's fine, so does Sage.
> We're in a synergy relationship.
>
> That's especially true in the space of my workplace, where a lot of the
> brain cycles have been committed to Hilbert, software that brings in
> Mathematica over the server to a browser-based client.  Others of us teach
> Python and other executable notations.  Per your integrating vision, it's
> all one domain.
>
> http://www.makingmath.com/  (same group as O'Reilly School)
>

Here's a post worth linking to right at this juncture as it gives a lot of
the history of the O'Reilly School endeavor.

Written by the spouse, Trish, of the founder, Scott Gray:

http://blog.oreillyschool.com/2013/02/with-respect-to-osts-executive-director.html

Scott's transformative trip to Russia is talked more about here:

http://blog.oreillyschool.com/2010/05/the-story-of-the-oreilly-school-of-technology-part-2.html

That's somewhat where my slide show comes in, as I mentioned saying our
company is based in Sebastopol **, followed by a pregnant pause before I
say "California".

Kirby

 ** *Sevastopol* (pron.: /<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English>
? <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>s<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>
? <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>v<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>
? <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>?<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>
s <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>t<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>
o? <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>p<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>
?l <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>/<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English>or
/ <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English>s<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>
? <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>?<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>
v <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>?<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>
s <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>t<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>
? <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>p<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>
o? <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>l<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key>
/ <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English>; previously *
Sebastopol*; Ukrainian <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_language>and
Russian <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language>: ????????????; Crimean
Tatar <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_Tatar_language>: *Aqyar*) is
one of two cities with special
status<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cities_with_special_status>in
Ukraine <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine> (the other being the
capital, Kiev <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev>), located on the
Black Sea<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea>coast of the Crimean
Peninsula <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_Peninsula>. It has a
population of 342,451
(2001).[1]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevastopol#cite_note-geohive-1>Sevastopol
is the second largest port in Ukraine
[*dubious <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Disputed_statement> ?
discuss <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Sevastopol#Dubious>*],
after the Port
of Odessa <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Odessa>.  [Wikipedia]

http://ua.pycon.org/
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From jeff at elkner.net  Tue Mar 19 21:41:13 2013
From: jeff at elkner.net (Jeff Elkner)
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:41:13 -0400
Subject: [Edu-sig] =?iso-8859-1?q?Python_at_the_University_of_S=E3o_Paulo?=
Message-ID: <CABkKac9kST8EfTwLUNimbXdfdTP97F=Ktveg49BdLSZsoZjtDw@mail.gmail.com>

Luciano Ramalho stopped by at the Pycon sprint to tell me that the
University of S?o Paulo
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_S%C3%A3o_Paulo) recently
adopted Python in its Introductory CS program.

I told him I would pass this good news along to the edu-sig, and
invited him to join us on this list.

jeff elkner

From jeff at elkner.net  Tue Mar 19 21:44:54 2013
From: jeff at elkner.net (Jeff Elkner)
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:44:54 -0400
Subject: [Edu-sig] Big thanks to Naomi Ceder for putting together the EDU
	Summit!
Message-ID: <CABkKac8QmQdQXtoGu=jBBhLes_AQENmvgS_bvArg9bRT3AFvtg@mail.gmail.com>

We all owe a big thank you to Naomi Ceder for all the work she put in
organizing the EDU Summit.  After spending years at Pycons meeting
with the between 5 and 10 people at the conference interested in
Python in Education over a dinner, it was exciting indeed to see 90+
people this year.

Thanks, Naomi!

jeff elkner

From aharrin at luc.edu  Tue Mar 19 21:49:09 2013
From: aharrin at luc.edu (Andrew Harrington)
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:49:09 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Big thanks to Naomi Ceder for putting together the
	EDU Summit!
In-Reply-To: <CABkKac8QmQdQXtoGu=jBBhLes_AQENmvgS_bvArg9bRT3AFvtg@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CABkKac8QmQdQXtoGu=jBBhLes_AQENmvgS_bvArg9bRT3AFvtg@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CAOaxTEJkF6KCDfG5SAhC1BCMzWLqu9jqMSheD2kW4nT58d+Vow@mail.gmail.com>

+1
Andy

On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 3:44 PM, Jeff Elkner <jeff at elkner.net> wrote:

> We all owe a big thank you to Naomi Ceder for all the work she put in
> organizing the EDU Summit.  After spending years at Pycons meeting
> with the between 5 and 10 people at the conference interested in
> Python in Education over a dinner, it was exciting indeed to see 90+
> people this year.
>
> Thanks, Naomi!
>
> jeff elkner
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>



-- 
Dr. Andrew N. Harrington
  Computer Science Department
  Loyola University Chicago
Lakeshore office in the Math Department: 104 Loyola Hall
http://www.cs.luc.edu/~anh
Phone: 312-915-7999
Fax:    312-915-7998
aharrin at luc.edu
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From K.Laidley at amsacs.org  Wed Mar 20 02:18:03 2013
From: K.Laidley at amsacs.org (Karine Laidley)
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 21:18:03 -0400
Subject: [Edu-sig] online coding?
Message-ID: <2D7808242A30A5418DFCFE1FD547C8BC01694C719D3F@AMSAMAIL.amsacs.org>

Dear Python users,

I wanted to check with you if you know of a good site that allows students to submit Python code to be checked for correctness. I know there is a codebat site but I found it limited in what it offers. Ideally, I want to offer students problems to solve from simple print statements, to calculations, to formatting, to conditionals and repetitions... even better, if we can actually create our own problem sets and solutions to be checked against, that would be amazing.

Any thoughts?

Thank you,

Karine Laidley

Computer Science Teacher (6th and 7th grade)
AMSA Charter School
Marlborough, MA
(508)597-2400
k.laidley at amsacs.org

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From andre.roberge at gmail.com  Wed Mar 20 02:35:29 2013
From: andre.roberge at gmail.com (Andre Roberge)
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 22:35:29 -0300
Subject: [Edu-sig] online coding?
In-Reply-To: <2D7808242A30A5418DFCFE1FD547C8BC01694C719D3F@AMSAMAIL.amsacs.org>
References: <2D7808242A30A5418DFCFE1FD547C8BC01694C719D3F@AMSAMAIL.amsacs.org>
Message-ID: <CAGMu_=oiy1L8_9RyiLhkXkAT=upjH8gTWptx-ujrgaf=m-Zv3Q@mail.gmail.com>

On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 10:18 PM, Karine Laidley <K.Laidley at amsacs.org>wrote:

>  Dear Python users,****
>
> ** **
>
> I wanted to check with you if you know of a good site that allows students
> to submit Python code to be checked for correctness. I know there is a
> codebat site but I found it limited in what it offers. Ideally, I want to
> offer students problems to solve from simple print statements, to
> calculations, to formatting, to conditionals and repetitions? even better,
> if we can actually create our own problem sets and solutions to be checked
> against, that would be amazing.****
>
> **
>
One solution, which might be just a bit more involved than you would like
would be to use Crunchy.   (http://code.google.com/p/crunchy)

Crunchy takes a normal html page, possibly with some python code in it, and
transforms it into an interactive session within a browser.  If you
download crunchy and start it by typing "python crunchy.py" it should open
a browser window and display an html page documenting its various features.
 If it does not open a browser window/tab, type in
http://127.0.0.1:8001/index.html as the address   (or note the address in
the terminal window from which you started it ... assuming you do start it
that way).

Assuming you do this ... have a look at either the "DocTest" or "UnitTest"
menu item on the left.    You can embed code samples that will do exactly
what you want, either using the python doctest module or the unittest one.
   The documentation explains how to do this ... but the simplest way might
be to copy the existing html file and modify it.

If you want to see a video of it first, I can probably find a link for you.

What it would require is either:
1. that you set up crunchy on a local server that the students can connect
to - I've never done it myself but I know that a couple of people managed
to do it.
2. that students have access to a copy of Crunchy on their computer AND
that you have some website on which you could put the html files with the
problem sets you want to have.

If you do try it and have questions, feel free to email me directly.

Andr?

>  **
>
> Any thoughts?****
>
> ** **
>
> Thank you,****
>
> ** **
>
> Karine Laidley****
>
> ** **
>
> Computer Science Teacher (6th and 7th grade)****
>
> AMSA Charter School****
>
> Marlborough, MA****
>
> (508)597-2400****
>
> k.laidley at amsacs.org****
>
> ** **
>
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>
>
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From naomi.ceder at gmail.com  Wed Mar 20 05:25:21 2013
From: naomi.ceder at gmail.com (Naomi Ceder)
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 23:25:21 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Big thanks to Naomi Ceder for putting together the
	EDU Summit!
In-Reply-To: <CAOaxTEJkF6KCDfG5SAhC1BCMzWLqu9jqMSheD2kW4nT58d+Vow@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CABkKac8QmQdQXtoGu=jBBhLes_AQENmvgS_bvArg9bRT3AFvtg@mail.gmail.com>
	<CAOaxTEJkF6KCDfG5SAhC1BCMzWLqu9jqMSheD2kW4nT58d+Vow@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CAKvj0qTMve=chCo=oMhRvM6TvXuLHwBf0Hg5BG42oxL-AAgFvw@mail.gmail.com>

I can honestly say that it was my pleasure... this realized a dream I'd had
for a few years. Look for some new developments from the summit, and let's
keep up the contacts with all facets of the Python/education communities.

And yes, I am planning to do it again next year, so if you attended please
give me your feedback, please consider joining us in Montreal next April,
let me know of others who would be good to invite to such a summit, and
consider if you'd like to help out on some aspect or other.

Also, I'm planning on writing up a post mortem of the summit, which I will
of course share with everyone.

Cheers,
Naomi


On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 3:49 PM, Andrew Harrington <aharrin at luc.edu> wrote:

> +1
> Andy
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 3:44 PM, Jeff Elkner <jeff at elkner.net> wrote:
>
>> We all owe a big thank you to Naomi Ceder for all the work she put in
>> organizing the EDU Summit.  After spending years at Pycons meeting
>> with the between 5 and 10 people at the conference interested in
>> Python in Education over a dinner, it was exciting indeed to see 90+
>> people this year.
>>
>> Thanks, Naomi!
>>
>> jeff elkner
>> _______________________________________________
>> Edu-sig mailing list
>> Edu-sig at python.org
>> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Dr. Andrew N. Harrington
>   Computer Science Department
>   Loyola University Chicago
> Lakeshore office in the Math Department: 104 Loyola Hall
> http://www.cs.luc.edu/~anh
> Phone: 312-915-7999
> Fax:    312-915-7998
> aharrin at luc.edu
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>
>


-- 
Naomi Ceder
https://plus.google.com/u/0/111396744045017339164/about
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From rbarve at gmail.com  Wed Mar 20 06:40:00 2013
From: rbarve at gmail.com (Rakesh Barve)
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:10:00 +0530
Subject: [Edu-sig] online coding?
In-Reply-To: <2D7808242A30A5418DFCFE1FD547C8BC01694C719D3F@AMSAMAIL.amsacs.org>
References: <2D7808242A30A5418DFCFE1FD547C8BC01694C719D3F@AMSAMAIL.amsacs.org>
Message-ID: <CABC+C+jLW=r2X83N5AA5SOwiCe4HStEhvA0YRqOEFaocFQBehQ@mail.gmail.com>

Hi

I am not an expert but one recent development is dynamic languages such as
Python can now be interpreted and run inside browsers, making it possible
to do the below kind of stuff as well as execution with no need of servers.

One such example seems to be http://pythonlearn.com/pythonauto/index.php which
uses  http://www.skulpt.org/

Rakesh

On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 6:48 AM, Karine Laidley <K.Laidley at amsacs.org>wrote:

>  Dear Python users,****
>
> ** **
>
> I wanted to check with you if you know of a good site that allows students
> to submit Python code to be checked for correctness. I know there is a
> codebat site but I found it limited in what it offers. Ideally, I want to
> offer students problems to solve from simple print statements, to
> calculations, to formatting, to conditionals and repetitions? even better,
> if we can actually create our own problem sets and solutions to be checked
> against, that would be amazing.****
>
> ** **
>
> Any thoughts?****
>
> ** **
>
> Thank you,****
>
> ** **
>
> Karine Laidley****
>
> ** **
>
> Computer Science Teacher (6th and 7th grade)****
>
> AMSA Charter School****
>
> Marlborough, MA****
>
> (508)597-2400****
>
> k.laidley at amsacs.org****
>
> ** **
>
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>
>


-- 
All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our
misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material,
as clay, so that we may shape our art.
-- Jorge Luis Borges
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From aharrin at luc.edu  Wed Mar 20 15:10:13 2013
From: aharrin at luc.edu (Andrew Harrington)
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2013 09:10:13 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] online coding?
In-Reply-To: <2D7808242A30A5418DFCFE1FD547C8BC01694C719D3F@AMSAMAIL.amsacs.org>
References: <2D7808242A30A5418DFCFE1FD547C8BC01694C719D3F@AMSAMAIL.amsacs.org>
Message-ID: <CAOaxTEJE3zAwpU2vaggZNEDTeMCscaC6fxBX6-GXCbYUtq9=cQ@mail.gmail.com>

Something I learned about at SIGCSE: You can link things to pythontutor.com.
 That is a neat site with graphical view of variables and not only single
stepping, but back stepping.

The latest derivative of the online book that Jef adapted to Python added
such stuff, and added neat tools to embed them in Sphinx document
processing software.

http://interactivepython.org/courselib/static/thinkcspy

>From PyCon, the latest IPython has a notebook feature for interactive code
interspersed with text.

Andy

On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 8:18 PM, Karine Laidley <K.Laidley at amsacs.org>wrote:

>  Dear Python users,****
>
> ** **
>
> I wanted to check with you if you know of a good site that allows students
> to submit Python code to be checked for correctness. I know there is a
> codebat site but I found it limited in what it offers. Ideally, I want to
> offer students problems to solve from simple print statements, to
> calculations, to formatting, to conditionals and repetitions? even better,
> if we can actually create our own problem sets and solutions to be checked
> against, that would be amazing.****
>
> ** **
>
> Any thoughts?****
>
> ** **
>
> Thank you,****
>
> ** **
>
> Karine Laidley****
>
> ** **
>
> Computer Science Teacher (6th and 7th grade)****
>
> AMSA Charter School****
>
> Marlborough, MA****
>
> (508)597-2400****
>
> k.laidley at amsacs.org****
>
> ** **
>
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>
>


-- 
Dr. Andrew N. Harrington
  Computer Science Department
  Loyola University Chicago
Lakeshore office in the Math Department: 104 Loyola Hall
http://www.cs.luc.edu/~anh
Phone: 312-915-7999
Fax:    312-915-7998
aharrin at luc.edu
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From aharrin at luc.edu  Wed Mar 20 15:25:45 2013
From: aharrin at luc.edu (Andrew Harrington)
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2013 09:25:45 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] online coding?
In-Reply-To: <CAOaxTEJE3zAwpU2vaggZNEDTeMCscaC6fxBX6-GXCbYUtq9=cQ@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2D7808242A30A5418DFCFE1FD547C8BC01694C719D3F@AMSAMAIL.amsacs.org>
	<CAOaxTEJE3zAwpU2vaggZNEDTeMCscaC6fxBX6-GXCbYUtq9=cQ@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CAOaxTE+m5j2A-D76fg1e1rLM8YXXdYvSxg0D=b6NUrU0c39hNQ@mail.gmail.com>

Oops I left off the index.html that is needed:
http://interactivepython.org/courselib/static/thinkcspy/index.html

On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 9:10 AM, Andrew Harrington <aharrin at luc.edu> wrote:

> Something I learned about at SIGCSE: You can link things to
> pythontutor.com.  That is a neat site with graphical view of variables
> and not only single stepping, but back stepping.
>
> The latest derivative of the online book that Jef adapted to Python added
> such stuff, and added neat tools to embed them in Sphinx document
> processing software.
>
> http://interactivepython.org/courselib/static/thinkcspy
>
> From PyCon, the latest IPython has a notebook feature for interactive code
> interspersed with text.
>
> Andy
>
> On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 8:18 PM, Karine Laidley <K.Laidley at amsacs.org>wrote:
>
>>  Dear Python users,****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> I wanted to check with you if you know of a good site that allows
>> students to submit Python code to be checked for correctness. I know there
>> is a codebat site but I found it limited in what it offers. Ideally, I want
>> to offer students problems to solve from simple print statements, to
>> calculations, to formatting, to conditionals and repetitions? even better,
>> if we can actually create our own problem sets and solutions to be checked
>> against, that would be amazing.****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> Any thoughts?****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> Thank you,****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> Karine Laidley****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> Computer Science Teacher (6th and 7th grade)****
>>
>> AMSA Charter School****
>>
>> Marlborough, MA****
>>
>> (508)597-2400****
>>
>> k.laidley at amsacs.org****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Edu-sig mailing list
>> Edu-sig at python.org
>> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Dr. Andrew N. Harrington
>   Computer Science Department
>   Loyola University Chicago
> Lakeshore office in the Math Department: 104 Loyola Hall
> http://www.cs.luc.edu/~anh
> Phone: 312-915-7999
> Fax:    312-915-7998
> aharrin at luc.edu
>
>


-- 
Dr. Andrew N. Harrington
  Computer Science Department
  Loyola University Chicago
Lakeshore office in the Math Department: 104 Loyola Hall
http://www.cs.luc.edu/~anh
Phone: 312-915-7999
Fax:    312-915-7998
aharrin at luc.edu
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From kurner at oreillyschool.com  Wed Mar 20 15:57:06 2013
From: kurner at oreillyschool.com (Kirby Urner)
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2013 07:57:06 -0700
Subject: [Edu-sig] online coding?
In-Reply-To: <CABC+C+jLW=r2X83N5AA5SOwiCe4HStEhvA0YRqOEFaocFQBehQ@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2D7808242A30A5418DFCFE1FD547C8BC01694C719D3F@AMSAMAIL.amsacs.org>
	<CABC+C+jLW=r2X83N5AA5SOwiCe4HStEhvA0YRqOEFaocFQBehQ@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CAGe4BMFw1rWQk+ckQZdN0yx2iVP3xz0NZuEYkO=pYDiw2rBiSg@mail.gmail.com>

On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 10:40 PM, Rakesh Barve <rbarve at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi
>
> I am not an expert but one recent development is dynamic languages such as
> Python can now be interpreted and run inside browsers, making it possible
> to do the below kind of stuff as well as execution with no need of servers.
>
> One such example seems to be http://pythonlearn.com/pythonauto/index.php which
> uses  http://www.skulpt.org/
>
> Rakesh
>
>
Yes, Skulpt features an ingenious JavaScript interpreter of the Python
language.  The simple SDK, which requires Python to run, lets developers
add new features and tests to the JavaScript interpreter.  In end user
mode, you can write Python interactively without having even Python
installed, and without Internet access (though there's a high probability
you have both).

Kirby
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From K.Laidley at amsacs.org  Wed Mar 20 17:03:30 2013
From: K.Laidley at amsacs.org (Karine Laidley)
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:03:30 -0400
Subject: [Edu-sig] online coding?
Message-ID: <2D7808242A30A5418DFCFE1FD547C8BC01694F1D1CD4@AMSAMAIL.amsacs.org>

I want to thank everyone for their responses.

I will look into the options and see which might get me closest to what I need... As for the browser option for Python, all will be useful. I have a few students who do not have computers at home or limited space...

Thanks again.

Karine Laidley

Computer Science Teacher (6th and 7th grade)
AMSA Charter School
Marlborough, MA
(508)597-2400
k.laidley at amsacs.org

From: Karine Laidley
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 9:18 PM
To: 'edu-sig at python.org'
Subject: online coding?

Dear Python users,

I wanted to check with you if you know of a good site that allows students to submit Python code to be checked for correctness. I know there is a codebat site but I found it limited in what it offers. Ideally, I want to offer students problems to solve from simple print statements, to calculations, to formatting, to conditionals and repetitions... even better, if we can actually create our own problem sets and solutions to be checked against, that would be amazing.

Any thoughts?

Thank you,

Karine Laidley

Computer Science Teacher (6th and 7th grade)
AMSA Charter School
Marlborough, MA
(508)597-2400
k.laidley at amsacs.org

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From jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com  Tue Mar 26 22:56:46 2013
From: jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com (Jurgis Pralgauskis)
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2013 23:56:46 +0200
Subject: [Edu-sig] online coding?
In-Reply-To: <2D7808242A30A5418DFCFE1FD547C8BC01694C719D3F@AMSAMAIL.amsacs.org>
References: <2D7808242A30A5418DFCFE1FD547C8BC01694C719D3F@AMSAMAIL.amsacs.org>
Message-ID: <CANDo6ExmzDpuae=peY5EngBOcSh+TE9stjaqj4mf5JLLQq40Ew@mail.gmail.com>

http://codepad.org/ - when You don't need input

With  input  possibility (though not interactive)
http://cscircles.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/visualize/

On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 3:18 AM, Karine Laidley <K.Laidley at amsacs.org> wrote:
> Dear Python users,
>
>
>
> I wanted to check with you if you know of a good site that allows students
> to submit Python code to be checked for correctness. I know there is a
> codebat site but I found it limited in what it offers. Ideally, I want to
> offer students problems to solve from simple print statements, to
> calculations, to formatting, to conditionals and repetitions? even better,
> if we can actually create our own problem sets and solutions to be checked
> against, that would be amazing.
>
>
>
> Any thoughts?
>
>
>
> Thank you,
>
>
>
> Karine Laidley
>
>
>
> Computer Science Teacher (6th and 7th grade)
>
> AMSA Charter School
>
> Marlborough, MA
>
> (508)597-2400
>
> k.laidley at amsacs.org
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>



-- 
Jurgis Pralgauskis
tel: 8-616 77613;
Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;)
http://galvosukykla.lt

From calcpage at aol.com  Tue Mar 26 23:06:58 2013
From: calcpage at aol.com (calcpage at aol.com)
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2013 18:06:58 -0400
Subject: [Edu-sig] online coding?
In-Reply-To: <CANDo6ExmzDpuae=peY5EngBOcSh+TE9stjaqj4mf5JLLQq40Ew@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2D7808242A30A5418DFCFE1FD547C8BC01694C719D3F@AMSAMAIL.amsacs.org>
	<CANDo6ExmzDpuae=peY5EngBOcSh+TE9stjaqj4mf5JLLQq40Ew@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4c0fd0e0-d7bd-41a8-baaf-09c6daa88e2a.maildroid@localhost>

interactivepython.org is very nice too especially if you want to try out turtle.py without installng IDLE.

Sent from my android device.



-----Original Message-----
From: Jurgis Pralgauskis <jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com>
To: Karine Laidley <K.Laidley at amsacs.org>
Cc: "edu-sig at python.org" <edu-sig at python.org>
Sent: Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:56
Subject: Re: [Edu-sig] online coding?

http://codepad.org/ - when You don't need input

With  input  possibility (though not interactive)
http://cscircles.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/visualize/

On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 3:18 AM, Karine Laidley <K.Laidley at amsacs.org> wrote:
> Dear Python users,
>
>
>
> I wanted to check with you if you know of a good site that allows students
> to submit Python code to be checked for correctness. I know there is a
> codebat site but I found it limited in what it offers. Ideally, I want to
> offer students problems to solve from simple print statements, to
> calculations, to formatting, to conditionals and repetitions? even better,
> if we can actually create our own problem sets and solutions to be checked
> against, that would be amazing.
>
>
>
> Any thoughts?
>
>
>
> Thank you,
>
>
>
> Karine Laidley
>
>
>
> Computer Science Teacher (6th and 7th grade)
>
> AMSA Charter School
>
> Marlborough, MA
>
> (508)597-2400
>
> k.laidley at amsacs.org
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>



-- 
Jurgis Pralgauskis
tel: 8-616 77613;
Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;)
http://galvosukykla.lt
_______________________________________________
Edu-sig mailing list
Edu-sig at python.org
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
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