[Edu-sig] CP4E: Programming for Fun => Python for Journalists and Couch Poatatoes?

[Phillip Kent]

At 03:31 PM 9/7/02 -0400, "Jason Cunliffe" <jasonic@nomadics.org> wrote:

>"The only decision that's been taken at this stage is that inaction is not an
>option"
>  -- Tony Blair
>
>Anyone care to translating that in Python?
>
>When I was at school, we had lots of parsing exercises, in both English class
>and then Latin. Sometimes torture, sometimes fun, depending on the 
>teacher, the
>content and our ability to use it.
>
>I hope that as computational literacy works it way into the hearts and 
>minds of
>schools everywhere [optimistic inevitability], there will be great value in
>developing descriptive algorithms, such as parsing [literature] texts.
>- To understand points of literature, grammar, content, structure
>- To teach and develop programming skills.
>
>It would require teachers who are really fluent and adept in a language 
>such as
>Python. Just as Kirby and others have been developing their math-oriented 
>Python
>curriculum, what do you think the potential is for programming natural 
>language
>and literature for fun.
>I may be crazy, but just imagine...
>
>Python for Journalists
>- In this class we take newspaper and TV news and [try to] translate them into
>Python.
>...........................

Sounds good to me!

There is some precedent for this that I know of: "Exploring Language with 
Logo", Goldenberg and Feurzeig, MIT Press 1987.

I never used the book for teaching anybody, but I think it has some very 
nice ideas (also in the structure of the text, which the authors call 
"multiple voices" as a way of guiding the student in different ways at 
different times), and the code should translate very easily into Python.

I think it's also the case that some school classes in English (in the UK 
at least) are using commercial textual analysis software.

- Phillip



++++++
Dr Phillip Kent, London, UK
mathematics  education  technology  research
p.kent@mail.com      mobile: 07950 952034
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