[Edu-sig] Python5 @ OST / HK (science fiction)

[Kirby Urner]

I've actually written some code for Python5 and
it's a work in progress.  Tractors instead of Turtles
but as a way of introducing Turtles i.e. I'm not
"anti-Turtle" in using a Tractor instead.  A subclass
of Tractor, CropCircleTractor, outputs the Mandelbrot
Set.  ASCII art output in version one, swapping in
better graphics (deeper bit-wells) as the course
progresses.

OST = O'Reilly School of Technology, a real place,
a real school.   I work there, have for some years.

HK = Hong Kong

We don't have an OST in Hong Kong but the idea
is "how would we design the parent classes of the
current OST such that instances would work in
other places."  You could say i18n is the theme,
and that's a pretty steady note for me (was our
theme at the OSCON booth last year -- if you came
by, our main guy was speaking in like Japanese,
Portuguese etc., gifted in that way (me not so much)).

No booth this year, but one of my co-workers is
giving a talk.  Looking forward!

Dunno if 'A Pattern Language' is used much in
CS.  Sounds like an elementary patterns text but
it's for architects mostly and deals with architectural
"places" that crop up over and over:  the nook,
the hallway, the stairwell...  like in movies; we can
conjure myriad scenes (the tower, the basement...).

I'm sketching OST / HK in terms of such Places
at first:  Oasis; Cruise; Stable...

We have a stable of mentors in HK and through
our "travel agency" (aka student services, like Expedia)
you book a "cruise" (just a metaphor usually -- though in
HK we might do some ships...).  You being a student.

Mentors from the stable come to the Oasis (aka
watering hole) to fill up on courses (what caseload
they'd like for the summer).

Some mentors are lifers, others jump off and on
more.  We have celebrity guests.

So that's pretty much what we have today, but a
bare bones version.  My in-house memos flesh it
out more and explain how, in a parent class
implementation, we can get more generalized
about our Places and not get locked in to accidental
features (attributes) of the current instance.  That's
a brainstorming technique other companies might
already use I don't know.

Yes, those "real world exigencies" matter, but in
science fiction they don't so much.

Kirby
Python Mentor / OST
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