[Edu-sig] PPP

[Jason Cunliffe]

Well over lunch, I came up with a really crazy idea.

I was reading 'A UML Pattern Language' and contemplating the question of
poly-fix syntaxes -  ways  to engage spoken written and language with
programming for everyone... Paul Evitts closes by quoting a short section of
T.S.Elliot ['Little Gidding', 'V']
http://www.umlpatterns.com/sys-tmpl/door/

-------------------------------------------
What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from. And every phrase
And sentence that is right
... is an end and a beginning.
...history is a pattern
Of timeless moments.

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate
-------------------------------------------

PPP = The Python Poetry Project

How about translating this into Python?.....

I know at first it seems like sacrilege, but why not?

There are many 'famous' lines and songs and not-so famous ones also which
might be great candidates for bridging heart and science.

an eclectic test cliché list might include:
-Nursery rhymes
-Star-Spangled Banner
- Genesis 1 [compare alternate translations:
http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?]
-Hamlet - ["To be or not to be"]
-Rap song <insert class favorite here>
-Pop song <insert class favorite here>
- Ballad http://theband.hiof.no/lyrics/long_black_veil.html
-Proust [Madeleine meme]
other poems
http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/stevens-13ways.html


How do you relate to the kids in the CP4E class who love and know music &
literature..?
How do help kids see the poetry in programming?

True, this is a risky experiment and could backfire. On the other hand it
could open up the idea of programming for everyone, and help to show how we
are always programming, especially when we use language.

your improvements most welcome

-Jason
________________________________________________________________
Jason CUNLIFFE = NOMADICS['Interactive Art and Technology'].DesignDirector

PS.

..the edited quote starts thus:

V

What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from. And every phrase
And sentence that is right (where every word is at home,
Taking its place to support the others,
The word neither diffident nor ostentatious,
An easy commerce of the old and the new,
The common word exact without vulgarity,
The formal word precise but not pedantic,
The complete consort dancing together)
Every phrase and every sentence is an end and a beginning,
Every poem an epitaph. And any action
Is a step to the block, to the fire, down the sea's throat
Or to an illegible stone: and that is where we start.
We die with the dying:
See, they depart, and we go with them.
We are born with the dead:
See, they return, and bring us with them.
The moment of the rose and the moment of the yew-tree
Are of equal duration. A people without history
Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern
Of timeless moments. So, while the light fails
On a winter's afternoon, in a secluded chapel
History is now and England.
With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate.
...

In its entirety at
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~bspajs/labyrinth/LittleGidd.html
http://www.mindspring.com/~rrbarnes/poetry/gidding.html