[Edu-sig] The Fate of VPyton >> BLENDER ??

[ajsiegel at optonline.net]

From: Jason Cunliffe 

> Not knowing much about this at a code level, but I thinking more 
> than 
> ever that it may be a *really* good idea you look hard at Blender.
> I've posted edu-sig several times previously, little or no 
> feedback. 

I have looked at Blender, and am aware - in broad terms - at the
strength of the surrounding community.  And have some across Blender
used in serious educational settings as well. 

It's just a different beast than vpython.  My commitment to vpython is in some
sense a commitment to lightweight simplicity where lightweight simplicity will do.

It's the same song I have been singing here from day one.

Maybe I am a moralist, puritan on these matters.  There is something
gluttonous, and in contradiction to the kind of principles we should be
promoting in an educational setting, by not emphasizing the just enough
to get the job done, and nothing more. And our tools should be
setting some example. Less *is* more would make a good norm,
with the exception to that rule needing to find a justification for itself.

Seems like we have migrated to the opposite of that way of thinking in
many ways.  I celebrate technology less than you do, I think, because
I hold it responsible for a good amount of this particular kind of damage.. 

There are solutions to limiting that damage, but damn it, none of them are 
themselves technology based. Which seems, almost by definition, to make 
them uninteresting, off-topic, anti-progressive, etc. When of course I see just the opposite being
true.  How did we get here? 

I am not contrarian just ot be so. Its coming from belief, and that belief
is coming from deep within my sensibility. I am stuck with my sensibility, but
have no reason to disrespect it. So that is the commitment I think you are 
seeing with me and vpython. And I am surprised you don't understand that
after hearing me spout off here for as long as I have.

The geometry with which I am fascinated is all about the universe of
exploration that can be done essentially limited to the concepts
"point", "line", "plane".  It  has kept me intellectually busy for some time, 
with some help from python, vpython, and a good deal of reading and a good deal of
working at it. 

Those tools are less than adequate for those exploring what exactly?

Art
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