[Edu-sig] More regarding snake imagery...

[kirby urner]

I'll tie this to education but regarding Pythons and constrictors
in general, they have this tendency to eat rodents.

So from a marketing perspective, what's "the rodent" in Python
World (the computer language)?

I think a good answer is: whatever knowledge domain.

We wrap around new namespaces quickly and squeeze out all
available info in a mercifully short time, then digest what we've
learned, and in some sense we "become the mouse" i.e. are
now ready to solve problems in ways that fit the needs of that
domain.  "Python stays relevant" might be the slogan here.

The tie to education is unavoidably OLPC-related but I'll risk a
quick quote from a recent post to Synergeo (Ken G. Brown
listowner):

"""
Just saying the word "Python" is enough to scare the bejeezus
out of the ignorant, as snake imagery tends to be off-putting in
some cultures (attractive in others).
"""

and from the same post (# 35677):

"""
The last thing we need are lots of pith helmeted MIT
"bwana types", traipsing through the Jungle with entourages
carrying crates of XOs on their heads, like in some kind
of B-grade Tarzan movie.
"""

In sum, I think it's up to locals familiar with various "locales"
(what they call namespaces in J **) to figure how best to
handle the snake imagery.

We can just hope they do something charming, offering
what others -- or we ourselves -- have done as a guide:

http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2007/07/few-photos.html
http://controlroom.blogspot.com/2007/04/knotted-snake.html
http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2006/09/sculpture-with-found-objects.html

Kirby

** Locale  A namespace in J.  The locale in which
a public name is defined is an attribute of the name.
A locale is identified by a locale name which is a
character string not containing an underscore.
http://www.jsoftware.com/help/jforc/glossary.htm