[Edu-sig] What to teach: sorting algorithms vs OOP?

[kirby urner]

Hi Jurgis --

I've tried various approaches with K-12, noting that's in itself a wide
spectrum i.e. K is nothing like 12.

I'll focus on high school (9-12).

I'd say the ubiquity (omnipresence) of the "dot operator" as "accessor"
suggests working it into ordinary mathematical thinking, at first as a way
to reach "attributes" (properties) and second as a way to trigger
behaviors.  noun.attribute versus noun.behavior().  Why isn't "dot
notation" part of everyday math?  Given the influx of CS in lower grades,
I'd say it's becoming so, defacto.

One mathematical object that calls out for such treatment is the
Polyhedron, since that's obviously mathematical anyway, and is clearly an
Object in the most literal sense.  Polyhedrons are colorful and accessible
and help make that bridge to game engines providing visuals.

>>> tet = Tetrahedron() # could come with many defaults
>>> tet.edges
6
>>> tet.vertexes
4
>>> tet.faces
4

What behaviors do we expect from a polyhedron?

For starters:

tet.rotate(degrees, axis)
tet.scale()
tet.translate(vector).

We see how surface area increases as a 2nd power of change in linear scale,
volume as a 3rd power e.g.:

>>> tet.volume
1
>>> bigtet = tet.scale(2)  # double all edge lengths
>>> bigtet.volume
8
>>> biggest = tet.scale(3)  # triple all edge lengths
>>> biggest.volume
27

Your earlier focus on sorting might still be used, as a typical behavior of
mathematical objects, such as lists.

Your focus is perhaps less on the algorithms used and more on the syntax
e.g. .items() as a behavior of the dict type.

That segment in Python where we show how to sort on any element of a tuple
might be worth covering:

>>> polyvols = {"tetrahedron":1, "octahedron":4, "cube":3,
"cuboctahedron":20}
>>> vols_tuples = tuple(polyvols.items())
>>> vols_tuples
(('tetrahedron', 1), ('octahedron', 4), ('cube', 3), ('cuboctahedron', 20))

>>> sorted(vols_tuples)  # alphabetical
[('cube', 3), ('cuboctahedron', 20), ('octahedron', 4), ('tetrahedron', 1)]

>>> sorted(vols_tuples, key=lambda t: t[1]) # by volume, get to use  lambda
[('tetrahedron', 1), ('cube', 3), ('octahedron', 4), ('cuboctahedron', 20)]

another way, not using lambda, shown in the docs on sorting:

>>> from operator import itemgetter
>>> getvol = itemgetter(1)  # get item 1 of a tuple or other object using
__getitem__
>>> getvol(('tetrahedron', 1))
1

>>> sorted(vols_tuples, key=getvol)
[('tetrahedron', 1), ('cube', 3), ('octahedron', 4), ('cuboctahedron', 20)]

https://docs.python.org/3.7/howto/sorting.html

Like Wes said, you could bridge to inheritance here (if in Python,
interfaces are less required as we have multiple inheritance).

class Polyhedron  # base class

could implement the generic guts of a polyhedron with subclasses like:

class Tetrahedron(Polyhedron)
class Cube(Polyhedron)
class Octahedron(Polyhedron)
class Cuboctahedron(Polyhedron)
...

The special names __lt__ __eq__ __gt__ for <, ==, > will even let you
implement sorting, in say volume order.

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
"""
Created on Wed Aug 15 08:31:57 2018

@author: Kirby Urner
"""

class Polyhedron:

    def __lt__(self, other):
        return self.volume < other.volume

    def __gt__(self, other):
        return self.volume > other.volume

    def __eq__(self, other):
        return self.volume == other.volume

    def scale(self, factor):
        return type(self)(v=self.volume * factor**3)

    def __repr__(self):
        return "{}(v={})".format(type(self).__name__, self.volume)

class Tetrahedron(Polyhedron):
    "Self dual, space-filler with octahedron"

    def __init__(self, v=1):
        self.volume = v
        self.edges, self.vertexes, self.faces = (6, 4, 4)

class Cube(Polyhedron):
    "Dual of Octahedron, space-filler"

    def __init__(self, v=3):
        self.volume = v
        self.edges, self.vertexes, self.faces = (12, 8, 6)

class Octahedron(Polyhedron):
    "Dual of Cube, space-filler with tetrahedron"

    def __init__(self, v=4):
        self.volume = v
        self.edges, self.vertexes, self.faces = (12, 6, 8)

class RhDodecahedron(Polyhedron):
    "Dual of Cuboctahedron, space-filler"

    def __init__(self, v=6):
        self.volume = v
        self.edges, self.vertexes, self.faces = (24, 14, 12)

class Cuboctahedron(Polyhedron):
    "Dual of Rh Dodecahedron"

    def __init__(self, v=20):
        self.volume = v
        self.edges, self.vertexes, self.faces = (24, 12, 14)

mypolys = (Tetrahedron(), Cuboctahedron(), Octahedron(), Cube())
volume_order = sorted(mypolys)
print(volume_order)

from operator import attrgetter
name = attrgetter("__class__.__name__")

# >>> name(Tetrahedron())
# 'Tetrahedron'

name_order = sorted(mypolys, key= name)
print(name_order)


OUTPUT:

By volume: [Tetrahedron(v=1), Cube(v=3), Octahedron(v=4),
Cuboctahedron(v=20)]
By name:   [Cube(v=3), Cuboctahedron(v=20), Octahedron(v=4),
Tetrahedron(v=1)]
https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1029552016849129472
Note:

these are not necessarily familiar volumes outside a curriculum informed by
American literature.
https://medium.com/@kirbyurner/bridging-the-chasm-new-england-transcendentalism-in-the-1900s-1dfa4c2950d0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synergetics_(Fuller)#Tetrahedral_accounting

My art-science courses tend to phase in the above conventions under the
rubric of "Martian Math".
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmi8go79

Kirby



On Tue, Aug 14, 2018 at 12:46 PM, Jurgis Pralgauskis <
jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> The dillema I have when teaching:
>  our k12 curricullum of programming is more based on algorithms (math
> ideas),
> but when working as programmer, I see the bigger need of SW architecture
> knowledge..
>
>  OOP is one big topic, which could replace sorting alg stuff (that I never
> applied (directly) in this century...). The topics could be integrated in
> making mini game engine :)
>
> I'd still leave classics of sum, min search, and search in sorted vs non
> array to get the idea of algorithms.
>
> What are your approaches, if you have programming classes in K12?
> --
> Jurgis Pralgauskis
> tel: 8-616 77613
>
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>
>
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