From kirby.urner at gmail.com  Sat Jan  1 01:56:17 2011
From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner)
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2010 16:56:17 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] End of 2010... Happy \N
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTin1APdUk4dbbiDLEdo5weVwPGMR+rjvBvPMxXEJ@mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTin1APdUk4dbbiDLEdo5weVwPGMR+rjvBvPMxXEJ@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTimuNo8Z1JPYrF6h8b00+Or_+R86d0mkL9ZYaN49@mail.gmail.com>

>
> Suggestions for Features (SFFs -- not as prestigious or important as PEPs
> but sometimes the genetic precursor of a PEP).

> Save Session in IDLE or other PyShell:

Hmmm, that didn't format so well for the edu-sig archive, sorry 'bout that.

For a host of reasons, having a source code version at one's
fingertips would be more problematic than a generic "state saver" that
lets you hibernate or snapshot a session.  However, if it came with
the text console, so you could scroll back.... (VFP has this, one of
my other shell / chat windows).

I forget which shell lets you automatically shift interactively
defined functions and classes to a corresponding program editor, with
a simple click.  In IDLE it's more a cut and paste operation, and then
you need to trim out the >>>.

A highlight of 2010 for me was Steve Holden trashing IDLE and saying
what could leave Python feeling too retro is the lack of a really
state-of-the-art shell and/or interactive front end to the interpreter
("chat window, talk to the python").  We did some comparing with the
Eclipse implementation (PyDev) which I've been using more in 2010.
But I miss my Akbar font.

PyShell and PyCrust... worthy efforts, making wxPython the basis /
platform.  PythonCard...  thinks to draw inspiration from, as ahead of
their time?  Will the better Python IDE emerge?  Wing?  Komodo?

A lot of people aren't shell freaks and so don't care that much.  You
use a coding language to write scripts, not to interact, not too "save
state" from interactive sessions.  These are different mindsets in
some way, with many of us going back and forth depending on the task.
Lets remember though, many newcomers to Python stick around because of
the interactivity.  That's why I think Steve was on target.

IDLE was totally state of the art in its day, a cross-platform GUI
widget library backing it up, the Tk library with Tkinter.  Very
innovative.  Worth every penny.

Kirby

From calcpage at aol.com  Sat Jan  1 16:21:28 2011
From: calcpage at aol.com (A. Jorge Garcia)
Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 10:21:28 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Happy New Year 2011!!!
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTimuNo8Z1JPYrF6h8b00+Or_+R86d0mkL9ZYaN49@mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTimuNo8Z1JPYrF6h8b00+Or_+R86d0mkL9ZYaN49@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <8CD77DEB103A3FF-8D4-89D23@webmail-d057.sysops.aol.com>

Happy New Year all!
Please enjoy my YouTubes and BlogSpots!

HTH,
A. Jorge Garcia
Applied Math and CompSci
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009


From kirby.urner at gmail.com  Sat Jan  1 22:32:49 2011
From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner)
Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2011 13:32:49 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] Happy New Year 2011!!!
In-Reply-To: <8CD77DEB103A3FF-8D4-89D23@webmail-d057.sysops.aol.com>
References: <AANLkTimuNo8Z1JPYrF6h8b00+Or_+R86d0mkL9ZYaN49@mail.gmail.com>
	<8CD77DEB103A3FF-8D4-89D23@webmail-d057.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTik-=OePPNP35Jn+0_P+B-89MWUkyRfCMAkmRn09@mail.gmail.com>

Greetings Jorge.

Was just checking your blogs.

This find is fantastic.  One of your students?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzuvAvUvAtQ

I'll pass this on the math-teach and mathfuture,
to of my frequent haunts / hangouts.

Kirby


On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 7:21 AM, A. Jorge Garcia <calcpage at aol.com> wrote:
> Happy New Year all!
> Please enjoy my YouTubes and BlogSpots!
>
> HTH,
> A. Jorge Garcia
> Applied Math and CompSci
> http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
> http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
>
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>

From calcpage at aol.com  Sat Jan  1 23:40:16 2011
From: calcpage at aol.com (A. Jorge Garcia)
Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 17:40:16 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Happy New Year 2011!!!
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTik-=OePPNP35Jn+0_P+B-89MWUkyRfCMAkmRn09@mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTik-=OePPNP35Jn+0_P+B-89MWUkyRfCMAkmRn09@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <8CD781BFB96F856-8CC-81F6E@webmail-d056.sysops.aol.com>

Hi Kirby,

Glad you liked that YouTube!  Yes, that is one of my AP Calculus BC 
students.  He is one of those rare very well-rounded students.  In 
other words, he's not just good at math and science, he's good at 
everything!

He's our valedictorian this year and he was the lead in our school 
play.  He and his sister are very musically inclined as you can tell in 
the video.  He came up with the lyrics and played the piano while his 
sister sang in that YouTube.  He also did all the video editing and 
sound recording, etc.

Regards,
A. Jorge Garcia
Applied Math and CompSci
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009



From kirby.urner at gmail.com  Sun Jan  2 01:12:15 2011
From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner)
Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2011 16:12:15 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] Happy New Year 2011!!!
In-Reply-To: <8CD781BFB96F856-8CC-81F6E@webmail-d056.sysops.aol.com>
References: <AANLkTik-=OePPNP35Jn+0_P+B-89MWUkyRfCMAkmRn09@mail.gmail.com>
	<8CD781BFB96F856-8CC-81F6E@webmail-d056.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=gQT4DDeH_hE9LKNnZ_ho2gACu0yqDbe=MMj9=@mail.gmail.com>

Fantastic.  Maybe he'll do something around Python someday.

His sister did a wonderful job with the vocals.

Speaking of Python, I noticed how Vi got some Python references in,
not just in drawing the snakes, but in showing a tiny fragment of the
language.  open( ).

http://www.youtube.com/user/Vihart#p/u/3/heKK95DAKms

She also said "snakes on a plane" which reminds me of this xkcd cartoon:

http://xkcd.com/107/

Vi also got into the uroborus quite a bit, which is a pet topic for me as well:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315 at N00/5314179162/  **

Kirby

**:  If you're into exotic cars at all, to the right in the same
photostream are some only recently published pictures of Car #4
(Dymaxion fleet).

(complete slides from which the above is listed:
http://www.4dsolutions.net/presentations/connectingthedots.pdf   ).

On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 2:40 PM, A. Jorge Garcia <calcpage at aol.com> wrote:
> Hi Kirby,
>
> Glad you liked that YouTube! ?Yes, that is one of my AP Calculus BC
> students. ?He is one of those rare very well-rounded students. ?In other
> words, he's not just good at math and science, he's good at everything!
>
> He's our valedictorian this year and he was the lead in our school play. ?He
> and his sister are very musically inclined as you can tell in the video. ?He
> came up with the lyrics and played the piano while his sister sang in that
> YouTube. ?He also did all the video editing and sound recording, etc.
>
> Regards,
> A. Jorge Garcia
> Applied Math and CompSci
> http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
> http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
>
>
>

From calcpage at aol.com  Sun Jan  2 02:22:31 2011
From: calcpage at aol.com (A. Jorge Garcia)
Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:22:31 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Happy New Year 2011!!!
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTi=gQT4DDeH_hE9LKNnZ_ho2gACu0yqDbe=MMj9=@mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTi=gQT4DDeH_hE9LKNnZ_ho2gACu0yqDbe=MMj9=@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <8CD7832A6AF9398-175C-29887@web-mmc-m10.sysops.aol.com>

Vi Hart is amazing.  I've seen that YouTube before.  You sent that link 
to edu-sig some weeks ago, no?

I recently switched from using SAGE online in class to using python 
scripts on a Linux server.
I wonder if I could do some graphics in this setting using python in my 
introCS class (aka Computer Math).
I've been looking at vpython, GASP, pygame.

Whatever happened to turtle graphics?  My students login to my sever 
via ssh, ie
ssh userid at 10.5.129.25
or if they need to tunnel graphics
ssh -Y userid at 10.5.129.25

Can they do graphics with one of the aforementioned python libraries 
this way?

TIA,
A. Jorge Garcia
Applied Math and CompSci
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009


From kirby.urner at gmail.com  Sun Jan  2 02:49:03 2011
From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner)
Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2011 17:49:03 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] Happy New Year 2011!!!
In-Reply-To: <8CD7832A6AF9398-175C-29887@web-mmc-m10.sysops.aol.com>
References: <AANLkTi=gQT4DDeH_hE9LKNnZ_ho2gACu0yqDbe=MMj9=@mail.gmail.com>
	<8CD7832A6AF9398-175C-29887@web-mmc-m10.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTinp8jO6ChWwMiNkyeHP6Epn0J06S4hXPonNm4fR@mail.gmail.com>

On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 5:22 PM, A. Jorge Garcia <calcpage at aol.com> wrote:
> Vi Hart is amazing. ?I've seen that YouTube before. ?You sent that link to
> edu-sig some weeks ago, no?
>
> I recently switched from using SAGE online in class to using python scripts
> on a Linux server.
> I wonder if I could do some graphics in this setting using python in my
> introCS class (aka Computer Math).
> I've been looking at vpython, GASP, pygame.
>

In my Martian Math class last summer we used VPython to get some
interesting graphics.  These were newcomer Earthlings who'd mostly
never seen Python before, but had a reputation of being quick learners,
privileged in the talent department.  My approach was to provide the
source code pre-written, as scaffolding, and just have them tweak,
building literacy that way.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315 at N00/4863299407/in/set-72157622961425831/
 (screen shot)
http://www.4dsolutions.net/satacad/martianmath/mm21.html  (a lesson plan)
http://wikieducator.org/Martian_Math  (more background re curriculum)

I explain this up front otherwise it looks like I achieved a miracle, and
so must be lying, as no one believes in miracles.  No, I just used
the standard language learning technique of reinforcing recognition
over recall, if that makes any sense to anyone.

> Whatever happened to turtle graphics? ?My students login to my sever via
> ssh, ie
> ssh userid at 10.5.129.25
> or if they need to tunnel graphics
> ssh -Y userid at 10.5.129.25
>

What is your problem with turtle graphics again, might have missed?
Oh, I think I get it (see below).

Gregor Lingl here on edu-sig has been maintaining that package,
which is cross-platform because working in Tk. **

But then you probably have any number of Java applets and
free Logo implementations, plus of your school spends dough
on software, the sky's the limit on cartoony 3D Logo worlds,
or so I'm led to believe (my budget hovers around negative
zero, where software is concerned).

> Can they do graphics with one of the aforementioned python libraries this
> way?
>

Oh, I maybe see the problem, you're talking about more like a dumb terminal
setup with X running in a server session if at all.  You're going over the
network to get Python.

Do they get a GUI desktop?  GNOME?

Sounds like they don't.

No graphical browser in this world either eh?

In my Martian Math class, each kid had their own super fancy Apple
with giant flatscreen.  Privileged Earthlings these were.  We used
IDLE, which works better with VPython than it does with its own
native Tk.

Kirby

> TIA,
> A. Jorge Garcia
> Applied Math and CompSci
> http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
> http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
>
>


** deeply buried mention of Gregor in this recap of
some 2010 activities on another list, FYI:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/synergeo/message/63983

From calcpage at aol.com  Sun Jan  2 03:12:03 2011
From: calcpage at aol.com (A. Jorge Garcia)
Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 21:12:03 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Happy New Year 2011!!!
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTinp8jO6ChWwMiNkyeHP6Epn0J06S4hXPonNm4fR@mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTinp8jO6ChWwMiNkyeHP6Epn0J06S4hXPonNm4fR@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <8CD783994A639F5-1AE4-DD1@Webmail-m104.sysops.aol.com>

>>
Oh, I maybe see the problem, you're talking about more like a dumb 
terminal setup with X running in a server session if at all.  You're 
going over the
network to get Python.
<<
Something like that...

>>
Do they get a GUI desktop?  GNOME?
<<

Well, I set up 25 PCs in my classroom on a gigabit LAN.  Each PC is 
running Ubuntu Desktop 10.04 - so, yes they have gnome and yes they 
have a GUI browser (Firefox).

I took one of these PCs and called it the "server/teacher station."  On 
this PC I added vsftp to share files with my students and openssh so 
they can login to my PC as a server to save their work.

I call my PC the "teacher station" because I use it with a PC Projector 
and a Slate (bluetooth remote mouse) mimicking a SmartBoard setup to 
demo code and give notes and even show some educational YouTube!  I 
recently added python and IDLE to this server:

apt-get install python
apt-get install idle

We tried IDLE but prefer python scripts.  So, I have my students login 
to the server via ssh from their "student stations" and write python 
scripts like hello.py which they chmod to make executable

chmod 755 hello.py

which works fine if the first line in the script is

#!/usr/bin/python

I tried to import turtle in a script using this environment but turtle 
was not found.

You say VPython works well with IDLE?  I was hoping to add VPython, 
GASP or turtle graphics to my scripts.

What do you think?

TIA,
A. Jorge Garcia
Applied Math and CompSci
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009


From vceder at gmail.com  Sun Jan  2 03:38:14 2011
From: vceder at gmail.com (Vern Ceder)
Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2011 21:38:14 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Happy New Year 2011!!!
In-Reply-To: <8CD783994A639F5-1AE4-DD1@Webmail-m104.sysops.aol.com>
References: <AANLkTinp8jO6ChWwMiNkyeHP6Epn0J06S4hXPonNm4fR@mail.gmail.com>
	<8CD783994A639F5-1AE4-DD1@Webmail-m104.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=LFQ+6H_m02PuEwcPRABMuRYesyQWD+WWamX8U@mail.gmail.com>

Pardon my jumping in, but is turtle available from the interactive shell?
The turtle module should be in /usr/lib/Python2.6/lib-tk on an Ubuntu 10.4
installation. If it is, then it should work fine from your scripts. Is it
available for you when you log onto the machine directly?

Cheers,
Vern

On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 9:12 PM, A. Jorge Garcia <calcpage at aol.com> wrote:

>
>>>  Oh, I maybe see the problem, you're talking about more like a dumb
> terminal setup with X running in a server session if at all.  You're going
> over the
> network to get Python.
> <<
> Something like that...
>
>
>>>  Do they get a GUI desktop?  GNOME?
> <<
>
> Well, I set up 25 PCs in my classroom on a gigabit LAN.  Each PC is running
> Ubuntu Desktop 10.04 - so, yes they have gnome and yes they have a GUI
> browser (Firefox).
>
> I took one of these PCs and called it the "server/teacher station."  On
> this PC I added vsftp to share files with my students and openssh so they
> can login to my PC as a server to save their work.
>
> I call my PC the "teacher station" because I use it with a PC Projector and
> a Slate (bluetooth remote mouse) mimicking a SmartBoard setup to demo code
> and give notes and even show some educational YouTube!  I recently added
> python and IDLE to this server:
>
> apt-get install python
> apt-get install idle
>
> We tried IDLE but prefer python scripts.  So, I have my students login to
> the server via ssh from their "student stations" and write python scripts
> like hello.py which they chmod to make executable
>
> chmod 755 hello.py
>
> which works fine if the first line in the script is
>
> #!/usr/bin/python
>
> I tried to import turtle in a script using this environment but turtle was
> not found.
>
> You say VPython works well with IDLE?  I was hoping to add VPython, GASP or
> turtle graphics to my scripts.
>
> What do you think?
>
> TIA,
> A. Jorge Garcia
> Applied Math and CompSci
> http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
> http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
>
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>



-- 
Vern Ceder
vceder at gmail.com, vceder at dogsinmotion.com
The Quick Python Book, 2nd Ed - http://bit.ly/bRsWDW
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/attachments/20110101/b7167858/attachment.html>

From kb1pkl at aim.com  Sun Jan  2 03:45:56 2011
From: kb1pkl at aim.com (Corey Richardson)
Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 21:45:56 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Happy New Year 2011!!!
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTi=LFQ+6H_m02PuEwcPRABMuRYesyQWD+WWamX8U@mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTinp8jO6ChWwMiNkyeHP6Epn0J06S4hXPonNm4fR@mail.gmail.com>	<8CD783994A639F5-1AE4-DD1@Webmail-m104.sysops.aol.com>
	<AANLkTi=LFQ+6H_m02PuEwcPRABMuRYesyQWD+WWamX8U@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4D1FE6E4.7060303@aim.com>

On 01/01/2011 09:38 PM, Vern Ceder wrote:
> Pardon my jumping in, but is turtle available from the interactive
> shell? The turtle module should be in /usr/lib/Python2.6/lib-tk on an
> Ubuntu 10.4 installation. If it is, then it should work fine from your
> scripts. Is it available for you when you log onto the machine directly?
>
> Cheers,
> Vern
>
> On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 9:12 PM, A. Jorge Garcia <calcpage at aol.com
> <mailto:calcpage at aol.com>> wrote:
>
>
>     Oh, I maybe see the problem, you're talking about more like a dumb
>     terminal setup with X running in a server session if at all.  You're
>     going over the
>     network to get Python.
>     <<
>     Something like that...
>
>
>     Do they get a GUI desktop?  GNOME?
>     <<
>
>     Well, I set up 25 PCs in my classroom on a gigabit LAN.  Each PC is
>     running Ubuntu Desktop 10.04 - so, yes they have gnome and yes they
>     have a GUI browser (Firefox).
>
>     I took one of these PCs and called it the "server/teacher station."
>       On this PC I added vsftp to share files with my students and
>     openssh so they can login to my PC as a server to save their work.
>
>     I call my PC the "teacher station" because I use it with a PC
>     Projector and a Slate (bluetooth remote mouse) mimicking a
>     SmartBoard setup to demo code and give notes and even show some
>     educational YouTube!  I recently added python and IDLE to this server:
>
>     apt-get install python
>     apt-get install idle
>
>     We tried IDLE but prefer python scripts.  So, I have my students
>     login to the server via ssh from their "student stations" and write
>     python scripts like hello.py which they chmod to make executable
>
>     chmod 755 hello.py
>
>     which works fine if the first line in the script is
>
>     #!/usr/bin/python
>
>     I tried to import turtle in a script using this environment but
>     turtle was not found.
>
>     You say VPython works well with IDLE?  I was hoping to add VPython,
>     GASP or turtle graphics to my scripts.
>
>     What do you think?
>
>     TIA,
>     A. Jorge Garcia
>     Applied Math and CompSci
>     http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
>     http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
>
>     _______________________________________________
>     Edu-sig mailing list
>     Edu-sig at python.org <mailto:Edu-sig at python.org>
>     http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>
>
>
>
> --
> Vern Ceder
> vceder at gmail.com <mailto:vceder at gmail.com>, vceder at dogsinmotion.com
> <mailto:vceder at dogsinmotion.com>
> The Quick Python Book, 2nd Ed - http://bit.ly/bRsWDW
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
 From what I've read so far, the students are SSHing into a sever, and 
writing their scripts from there (nano, vi, etc?). AFAIK, SSH is usually 
just shell, which means no GUI from the host, and they can't use turtle 
because it is a GUI app, using Tkinter IIRC.

From vceder at gmail.com  Sun Jan  2 04:01:37 2011
From: vceder at gmail.com (Vern Ceder)
Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2011 22:01:37 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Happy New Year 2011!!!
In-Reply-To: <4D1FE6E4.7060303@aim.com>
References: <AANLkTinp8jO6ChWwMiNkyeHP6Epn0J06S4hXPonNm4fR@mail.gmail.com>
	<8CD783994A639F5-1AE4-DD1@Webmail-m104.sysops.aol.com>
	<AANLkTi=LFQ+6H_m02PuEwcPRABMuRYesyQWD+WWamX8U@mail.gmail.com>
	<4D1FE6E4.7060303@aim.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=EWMPf9XYgz=f-2-hW=gj+QXLWqq87F2Ep-s+H@mail.gmail.com>

On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 9:45 PM, Corey Richardson <kb1pkl at aim.com> wrote:

> On 01/01/2011 09:38 PM, Vern Ceder wrote:
>
>> Pardon my jumping in, but is turtle available from the interactive
>> shell? The turtle module should be in /usr/lib/Python2.6/lib-tk on an
>> Ubuntu 10.4 installation. If it is, then it should work fine from your
>> scripts. Is it available for you when you log onto the machine directly?
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Vern
>>
>> On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 9:12 PM, A. Jorge Garcia <calcpage at aol.com
>>    Well, I set up 25 PCs in my classroom on a gigabit LAN.  Each PC is
>>    running Ubuntu Desktop 10.04 - so, yes they have gnome and yes they
>>    have a GUI browser (Firefox).
>>
>>    I took one of these PCs and called it the "server/teacher station."
>>      On this PC I added vsftp to share files with my students and
>>    openssh so they can login to my PC as a server to save their work.
>>
>>    I call my PC the "teacher station" because I use it with a PC
>>    Projector and a Slate (bluetooth remote mouse) mimicking a
>>    SmartBoard setup to demo code and give notes and even show some
>>    educational YouTube!  I recently added python and IDLE to this server:
>>
>>    apt-get install python
>>    apt-get install idle
>>
>>    We tried IDLE but prefer python scripts.  So, I have my students
>>    login to the server via ssh from their "student stations" and write
>>    python scripts like hello.py which they chmod to make executable
>>
>>    chmod 755 hello.py
>>
>>    which works fine if the first line in the script is
>>
>>    #!/usr/bin/python
>>
>>    I tried to import turtle in a script using this environment but
>>    turtle was not found.
>>
>>    You say VPython works well with IDLE?  I was hoping to add VPython,
>>    GASP or turtle graphics to my scripts.
>>
>>    What do you think?
>>
>>    TIA,
>>    A. Jorge Garcia
>>    Applied Math and CompSci
>>    http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
>>    http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
>>
>> From what I've read so far, the students are SSHing into a sever, and
> writing their scripts from there (nano, vi, etc?). AFAIK, SSH is usually
> just shell, which means no GUI from the host, and they can't use turtle
> because it is a GUI app, using Tkinter IIRC.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>

Right, the turtle and Tkinter are GUI apps, but the OP said they connect
with the -Y parameter for X11 forwarding, so it should open an X11 window on
their machines - this is standard behavior for ssh. And the OP said turtle
was not found, not that a screen couldn't be opened.

Cheers,
Vern

-- 
Vern Ceder
vceder at gmail.com, vceder at dogsinmotion.com
The Quick Python Book, 2nd Ed - http://bit.ly/bRsWDW
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/attachments/20110101/623750fb/attachment-0001.html>

From calcpage at aol.com  Sun Jan  2 04:55:07 2011
From: calcpage at aol.com (A. Jorge Garcia)
Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 22:55:07 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Happy New Year 2011!!!
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTi=EWMPf9XYgz=f-2-hW=gj+QXLWqq87F2Ep-s+H@mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTi=EWMPf9XYgz=f-2-hW=gj+QXLWqq87F2Ep-s+H@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <8CD7847FA9EB811-1660-6D5AD@Webmail-d118.sysops.aol.com>

>>
Right, the turtle and Tkinter are GUI apps, but the OP said they 
connect with the -Y parameter for X11 forwarding, so it should open an 
X11 window on their <<
machines - this is standard behavior for ssh. And the OP said turtle 
was not found, not that a screen couldn't be opened.
<<

Thanx, Vern, you are exactly correct.  My students have run several GUI 
apps, for example using java, via X11 forwarding in this manner.

I tried sample python turtle code I found on the web and got an import 
error.  I was logged in directly on the server.

TIA,
A. Jorge Garcia
Applied Math and CompSci
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009


From kirby.urner at gmail.com  Sun Jan  2 05:01:01 2011
From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner)
Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2011 20:01:01 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] Happy New Year 2011!!!
In-Reply-To: <8CD783994A639F5-1AE4-DD1@Webmail-m104.sysops.aol.com>
References: <AANLkTinp8jO6ChWwMiNkyeHP6Epn0J06S4hXPonNm4fR@mail.gmail.com>
	<8CD783994A639F5-1AE4-DD1@Webmail-m104.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTikSrhgh75c03pyQbyC3-qEiG82-DU8YJ4BjS3iW@mail.gmail.com>

On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 6:12 PM, A. Jorge Garcia <calcpage at aol.com> wrote:

<< snip >>

> You say VPython works well with IDLE? ?I was hoping to add VPython, GASP or
> turtle graphics to my scripts.
>

Yes, the VPython team built their curriculum around IDLE.  Part of what Arthur
used to gripe about is how a Visual install might change your IDLE settings
to boot into a script (programming window) instead of into the
interactive shell.

Anyway, when you launch a VPython script, perhaps by hitting F5 in the
program window, it brings up an independent window or even goes into
full screen mode based on user parameters.  Full screen 3D with commands
as simple as >>> ball = sphere(origin, radius=0.5, color = colors.red)...
really fantastic.

Here's a Youtube of what I've done with it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp_ZycVtOKM
(me babbling insanely about polyhedrons while filming Vpython script output)

Given the CPU power required by real time computer graphics, I'd think
you'd wanna enslave all those PCs if they're at all capable and not bring
your server to its knees trying to be all things to all users.  I suppose it's
not either/or, i.e. using workstations individually doesn't mean they
can't ssh their homework to shared depositories.

Kirby

> What do you think?
>
> TIA,
> A. Jorge Garcia
> Applied Math and CompSci
> http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
> http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
>
>

From kb1pkl at aim.com  Sun Jan  2 04:56:27 2011
From: kb1pkl at aim.com (Corey Richardson)
Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 22:56:27 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Happy New Year 2011!!!
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTi=EWMPf9XYgz=f-2-hW=gj+QXLWqq87F2Ep-s+H@mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTinp8jO6ChWwMiNkyeHP6Epn0J06S4hXPonNm4fR@mail.gmail.com>	<8CD783994A639F5-1AE4-DD1@Webmail-m104.sysops.aol.com>	<AANLkTi=LFQ+6H_m02PuEwcPRABMuRYesyQWD+WWamX8U@mail.gmail.com>	<4D1FE6E4.7060303@aim.com>
	<AANLkTi=EWMPf9XYgz=f-2-hW=gj+QXLWqq87F2Ep-s+H@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4D1FF76B.60002@aim.com>

On 01/01/2011 10:01 PM, Vern Ceder wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 9:45 PM, Corey Richardson <kb1pkl at aim.com
> <mailto:kb1pkl at aim.com>> wrote:
> 
>     On 01/01/2011 09:38 PM, Vern Ceder wrote:
> 
>         Pardon my jumping in, but is turtle available from the interactive
>         shell? The turtle module should be in /usr/lib/Python2.6/lib-tk
>         on an
>         Ubuntu 10.4 installation. If it is, then it should work fine
>         from your
>         scripts. Is it available for you when you log onto the machine
>         directly?
> 
>         Cheers,
>         Vern
> 
>         On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 9:12 PM, A. Jorge Garcia
>         <calcpage at aol.com <mailto:calcpage at aol.com>
>            Well, I set up 25 PCs in my classroom on a gigabit LAN.  Each
>         PC is
>            running Ubuntu Desktop 10.04 - so, yes they have gnome and
>         yes they
>            have a GUI browser (Firefox).
> 
>            I took one of these PCs and called it the "server/teacher
>         station."
>              On this PC I added vsftp to share files with my students and
>            openssh so they can login to my PC as a server to save their
>         work.
> 
>            I call my PC the "teacher station" because I use it with a PC
>            Projector and a Slate (bluetooth remote mouse) mimicking a
>            SmartBoard setup to demo code and give notes and even show some
>            educational YouTube!  I recently added python and IDLE to
>         this server:
> 
>            apt-get install python
>            apt-get install idle
> 
>            We tried IDLE but prefer python scripts.  So, I have my students
>            login to the server via ssh from their "student stations" and
>         write
>            python scripts like hello.py which they chmod to make executable
> 
>            chmod 755 hello.py
> 
>            which works fine if the first line in the script is
> 
>            #!/usr/bin/python
> 
>            I tried to import turtle in a script using this environment but
>            turtle was not found.
> 
>            You say VPython works well with IDLE?  I was hoping to add
>         VPython,
>            GASP or turtle graphics to my scripts.
> 
>            What do you think?
> 
>            TIA,
>            A. Jorge Garcia
>            Applied Math and CompSci
>            http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
>            http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
> 
>     From what I've read so far, the students are SSHing into a sever,
>     and writing their scripts from there (nano, vi, etc?). AFAIK, SSH is
>     usually just shell, which means no GUI from the host, and they can't
>     use turtle because it is a GUI app, using Tkinter IIRC.
> 
>     _______________________________________________
>     Edu-sig mailing list
>     Edu-sig at python.org <mailto:Edu-sig at python.org>
>     http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
> 
> 
> Right, the turtle and Tkinter are GUI apps, but the OP said they connect
> with the -Y parameter for X11 forwarding, so it should open an X11
> window on their machines - this is standard behavior for ssh. And the OP
> said turtle was not found, not that a screen couldn't be opened.
> 
> Cheers,
> Vern
> 
> -- 
> Vern Ceder
> vceder at gmail.com <mailto:vceder at gmail.com>, vceder at dogsinmotion.com
> <mailto:vceder at dogsinmotion.com>
> The Quick Python Book, 2nd Ed - http://bit.ly/bRsWDW
> 
> 
Whoops, guess I missed the -Y switch. Nevermind :)

From vceder at gmail.com  Sun Jan  2 05:02:57 2011
From: vceder at gmail.com (Vern Ceder)
Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2011 23:02:57 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Happy New Year 2011!!!
In-Reply-To: <8CD7847FA9EB811-1660-6D5AD@Webmail-d118.sysops.aol.com>
References: <AANLkTi=EWMPf9XYgz=f-2-hW=gj+QXLWqq87F2Ep-s+H@mail.gmail.com>
	<8CD7847FA9EB811-1660-6D5AD@Webmail-d118.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTikGu2kHhrdOVxUBW4zn-T0=F+Nm6CKZw=3ydDsw@mail.gmail.com>

On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 10:55 PM, A. Jorge Garcia <calcpage at aol.com> wrote:

>
>>>  Right, the turtle and Tkinter are GUI apps, but the OP said they connect
> with the -Y parameter for X11 forwarding, so it should open an X11 window on
> their <<
> machines - this is standard behavior for ssh. And the OP said turtle was
> not found, not that a screen couldn't be opened.
> <<
>
> Thanx, Vern, you are exactly correct.  My students have run several GUI
> apps, for example using java, via X11 forwarding in this manner.
>
> I tried sample python turtle code I found on the web and got an import
> error.  I was logged in directly on the server.


So is turtle.py in /usr/lib/Python2.6/lib-tk ? It should be, according to
the python2.6 package manifest...

if not, maybe reinstalling the package would help. If that fails,
downloading the python source tarball and manually putting it there should
do the trick, assuming nothing else is missing. (and if IDLE runs, you
should be OK, Tkinter-wise).

Cheers,
Vern


> TIA,
> A. Jorge Garcia
> Applied Math and CompSci
> http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
> http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
>
>


-- 
Vern Ceder
vceder at gmail.com, vceder at dogsinmotion.com
The Quick Python Book, 2nd Ed - http://bit.ly/bRsWDW
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/attachments/20110101/1fd48e61/attachment.html>

From kirby.urner at gmail.com  Sun Jan  2 05:14:29 2011
From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner)
Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2011 20:14:29 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] 2011 == sum of what consecutive primes?
Message-ID: <AANLkTikAKOmbZWQ0Ob801vKw9d-xt0W5EwwkumEeZ_pc@mail.gmail.com>

No, the question doesn't specify *how many* consecutive primes.

Python scripts to find the answer might be....

Constraining it more, you could specify it's 11 consecutive primes
that we're looking for.

Kirby

Teacher's note:

Some students may not write a sieve or other
prime-finding algorithm but instead screen
scrape from a table off the web (e.g. OEIS).
Other's may start with a cut and paste list
of consecutive primes gotten from who knows
where.  If the question is this open ended,
then be accepting of a diverse set of solutions.

From fsalamero at gmail.com  Sun Jan  2 17:48:52 2011
From: fsalamero at gmail.com (Fernando Salamero)
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 17:48:52 +0100
Subject: [Edu-sig] End of 2010... Happy \N
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTimuNo8Z1JPYrF6h8b00+Or_+R86d0mkL9ZYaN49@mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTin1APdUk4dbbiDLEdo5weVwPGMR+rjvBvPMxXEJ@mail.gmail.com>
	<AANLkTimuNo8Z1JPYrF6h8b00+Or_+R86d0mkL9ZYaN49@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <98271D5A-86DC-4F40-97CF-008627FFB016@gmail.com>


>  Will the better Python IDE emerge?  Wing?  Komodo?

What about the new open souce Ninja-IDE?

http://ninja-ide.appspot.com/

From lac at openend.se  Sun Jan  2 20:03:56 2011
From: lac at openend.se (Laura Creighton)
Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2011 20:03:56 +0100
Subject: [Edu-sig] End of 2010... Happy \N
In-Reply-To: Message from Fernando Salamero <fsalamero@gmail.com> of "Sun,
	02 Jan 2011 17:48:52 +0100."
	<98271D5A-86DC-4F40-97CF-008627FFB016@gmail.com> 
References: <AANLkTin1APdUk4dbbiDLEdo5weVwPGMR+rjvBvPMxXEJ@mail.gmail.com>
	<AANLkTimuNo8Z1JPYrF6h8b00+Or_+R86d0mkL9ZYaN49@mail.gmail.com>
	<98271D5A-86DC-4F40-97CF-008627FFB016@gmail.com> 
Message-ID: <201101021903.p02J3ulA020608@theraft.openend.se>

In a message of Sun, 02 Jan 2011 17:48:52 +0100, Fernando Salamero writes:
>
>>  Will the better Python IDE emerge?  Wing?  Komodo?
>
>What about the new open souce Ninja-IDE?
>
>http://ninja-ide.appspot.com/

Thank you.  I hadn't heard of that one before.  Do they have any 
documentation anywhere? I couldn't find it on that site.

Laura

From kirby.urner at gmail.com  Sun Jan  2 21:14:57 2011
From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner)
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 12:14:57 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] End of 2010... Happy \N
In-Reply-To: <201101021903.p02J3ulA020608@theraft.openend.se>
References: <AANLkTin1APdUk4dbbiDLEdo5weVwPGMR+rjvBvPMxXEJ@mail.gmail.com>
	<AANLkTimuNo8Z1JPYrF6h8b00+Or_+R86d0mkL9ZYaN49@mail.gmail.com>
	<fsalamero@gmail.com>
	<98271D5A-86DC-4F40-97CF-008627FFB016@gmail.com>
	<201101021903.p02J3ulA020608@theraft.openend.se>
Message-ID: <AANLkTimmKGsznerNJS77Y2B4ndDC=ySA__aSOh86AP2D@mail.gmail.com>

Good to hear from you Laura, long time.

List of features is impressive:

http://code.google.com/p/ninja-ide/wiki/ReleaseNotes

I see I need to get QT.

Kirby


On Sun, Jan 2, 2011 at 11:03 AM, Laura Creighton <lac at openend.se> wrote:
> In a message of Sun, 02 Jan 2011 17:48:52 +0100, Fernando Salamero writes:
>>
>>> ?Will the better Python IDE emerge? ?Wing? ?Komodo?
>>
>>What about the new open souce Ninja-IDE?
>>
>>http://ninja-ide.appspot.com/
>
> Thank you. ?I hadn't heard of that one before. ?Do they have any
> documentation anywhere? I couldn't find it on that site.
>
> Laura
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>

From jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com  Sat Jan  8 19:15:35 2011
From: jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com (Jurgis Pralgauskis)
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2011 20:15:35 +0200
Subject: [Edu-sig] py tutorials with some educational interaction
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=2uKLYi0i7vKkc_P=s8WWL025+2vCWBp0MuyTE@mail.gmail.com>

Hello,

during the hollydays I put up some nice system
to quite straitforward build tutorials...

the tutorial is written in kind of markdown (this could be changed easily)
http://ftp.akl.lt/users/jurgis/python/knygute/_sources/intro.1.txt

and then it is converted to rst/sphinx like
http://ftp.akl.lt/users/jurgis/python/knygute/intro.1.html

Features:
 * automatically computes outputs/results of examples (I havent' found
such feature otherwise)
 * adds interactions (via sphinx template js injections)
   at the bottom of each code block there are 3 buttons appearing on hover

    - 1st I'd call  "syntax trainer by repeating" (for beginners it
should be very good)
    - 2nd -- toggle off/on prompts and output -- for copying example to editor
      which I didn't found around sphinx (3 lines of jquery actually)
    - 3rd -- integration with http://people.csail.mit.edu/pgbovine/python/

    - I also used turtle graphics to introduce function -- and I like this idea
      http://ftp.akl.lt/users/jurgis/python/knygute/intro.3.functions.html#funkcijos

any comments?


Tutorial is in Lithuanian, but you can understand most by examples...
I was writing it with absolute beginners in mind --
somehow I didn't find  easy enough english tutorials.
thinkscipy is a bit steep in my opinion...
maybe you could indicate some, or maybe I'ts worth translating mine
into english?


Best regards
-- 
Jurgis Pralgauskis
Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;)
http://kompiuterija.pasimokom.lt

From aharrin at luc.edu  Sun Jan  9 05:05:17 2011
From: aharrin at luc.edu (Andrew Harrington)
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2011 22:05:17 -0600
Subject: [Edu-sig] py tutorials with some educational interaction
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTi=2uKLYi0i7vKkc_P=s8WWL025+2vCWBp0MuyTE@mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTi=2uKLYi0i7vKkc_P=s8WWL025+2vCWBp0MuyTE@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTin1NnF4_qXqUiZeRTHEDjpB=ebxAD5kWSQCibJw@mail.gmail.com>

Yes rst/sphinx is nice for tutorials.  I just used it to  transform my
Hands-on Python Tutorial in the last week:

http://anh.cs.luc.edu/python/hands-on/3.1/

Jurgis, Google does a fair approximation I think, when automatically
translating you tutorial to English.  At least it is smart enough not to
mess with the code itself.

Andy

On Sat, Jan 8, 2011 at 12:15 PM, Jurgis Pralgauskis <
jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> during the hollydays I put up some nice system
> to quite straitforward build tutorials...
>
> the tutorial is written in kind of markdown (this could be changed easily)
> http://ftp.akl.lt/users/jurgis/python/knygute/_sources/intro.1.txt
>
> and then it is converted to rst/sphinx like
> http://ftp.akl.lt/users/jurgis/python/knygute/intro.1.html
>
> Features:
>  * automatically computes outputs/results of examples (I havent' found
> such feature otherwise)
>  * adds interactions (via sphinx template js injections)
>   at the bottom of each code block there are 3 buttons appearing on hover
>
>    - 1st I'd call  "syntax trainer by repeating" (for beginners it
> should be very good)
>    - 2nd -- toggle off/on prompts and output -- for copying example to
> editor
>      which I didn't found around sphinx (3 lines of jquery actually)
>    - 3rd -- integration with http://people.csail.mit.edu/pgbovine/python/
>
>    - I also used turtle graphics to introduce function -- and I like this
> idea
>
> http://ftp.akl.lt/users/jurgis/python/knygute/intro.3.functions.html#funkcijos
>
> any comments?
>
>
> Tutorial is in Lithuanian, but you can understand most by examples...
> I was writing it with absolute beginners in mind --
> somehow I didn't find  easy enough english tutorials.
> thinkscipy is a bit steep in my opinion...
> maybe you could indicate some, or maybe I'ts worth translating mine
> into english?
>
>
> Best regards
> --
> Jurgis Pralgauskis
> Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;)
> http://kompiuterija.pasimokom.lt
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>



-- 
Dr. Andrew N. Harrington
  Computer Science Department
  Loyola University Chicago
  512B Lewis Towers (office)
  Snail mail to Lewis Towers 416
  820 North Michigan Avenue
  Chicago, Illinois 60611
http://www.cs.luc.edu/~anh
Phone: 312-915-7982
Fax:    312-915-7998
aharrin at luc.edu
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/attachments/20110108/86328186/attachment.html>

From mpaul213 at gmail.com  Thu Jan 13 07:16:52 2011
From: mpaul213 at gmail.com (michel paul)
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 22:16:52 -0800
Subject: [Edu-sig] the importance of divmod
Message-ID: <AANLkTimtRGWdah1KHC_kdD370UZv9dXYg0==uVBD7HbP@mail.gmail.com>

I've been wondering if the Python divmod operator might point to a central
issue in math education.

Understanding ratio and difference is fundamental to understanding algebra.

With all the symbol manipulation we teach in our curriculum, I'm not sure
that most students really understand what ratios and differences are.

Or, maybe they do, but we don't do a good job showing how to connect them.
And we should, because understanding ratios of differences becomes calculus.

I was discussing with my class writing a function reverse(n) for some
natural number n that would reverse its digits (assuming base 10, but not
excluding others).

There are all kinds of ways to think about it.  One kid accidentally
discovered that s[::-1] reverses a string s.  He was trying to do a slice
and accidentally put in an extra colon.  He called me over and showed me
that it reversed the string of digits he had created from n.  That made me
have to look some stuff up.  Wow, what a cool idea!  You can step through a
slice, just like with range().

But then, what if we want to think about it in purely mathematical terms?
If we agree that, for whatever reason, we cannot convert to strings, how
might we think about reversing digits using purely functional reasoning,
just % and recursion?  That's how I initially presented it, and then a kid
suggested using divmod, and I was delighted.  It totally simplified the
expression.

I think it would be great to come up with a list of divmod math problems.
Anybody have some?  I think developing fluency in divmod sorts of reasoning
would do a whole lot of good for understanding ratio.  Our current state of
high school mathematical literacy that equates a rational number with some
bizarre decimal is horrible.

- Michel

-- 
"Computer science is the new mathematics."

-- Dr. Christos Papadimitriou
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/attachments/20110112/0bdb1a60/attachment.html>

From news at andre-bell.de  Thu Jan 13 11:49:58 2011
From: news at andre-bell.de (Andre Alexander Bell)
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 11:49:58 +0100
Subject: [Edu-sig] the importance of divmod
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTimtRGWdah1KHC_kdD370UZv9dXYg0==uVBD7HbP@mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTimtRGWdah1KHC_kdD370UZv9dXYg0==uVBD7HbP@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4D2ED8D6.2080701@andre-bell.de>

Hello Michel,

On 13.01.2011 07:16, michel paul wrote:
> But then, what if we want to think about it in purely mathematical
> terms?  If we agree that, for whatever reason, we cannot convert to
> strings, how might we think about reversing digits using purely
> functional reasoning, just % and recursion?  That's how I initially
> presented it, and then a kid suggested using divmod, and I was
> delighted.  It totally simplified the expression.

You mean it simplified to something like this:

n = 0
d = 1234
while d!=0:
    d,r = divmod(d,10)
    n = n*10 + r

> I think it would be great to come up with a list of divmod math
> problems.  Anybody have some?  I think developing fluency in divmod
> sorts of reasoning would do a whole lot of good for understanding
> ratio.  Our current state of high school mathematical literacy that
> equates a rational number with some bizarre decimal is horrible.

I think that is an interesting point. Actually the Euclid Algorithm is
another good divmod example.
On the other hand you might as well argue that numbers in the given
number system should have an access method to their digits like strings
to their chars. In that case however, it would feel more natural if the
indices are reverse. Then each index directly maps to the power of the
base used. Example:

i = 1234
i[0] == 4
i[1] == 3
i[2] == 2
i[3] == 1

This would allow for

a = 0
a[3] = 1
a == 1000

Regards


Andre


From aharrin at luc.edu  Thu Jan 13 15:30:11 2011
From: aharrin at luc.edu (Andrew Harrington)
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 08:30:11 -0600
Subject: [Edu-sig] the importance of divmod
In-Reply-To: <4D2ED8D6.2080701@andre-bell.de>
References: <AANLkTimtRGWdah1KHC_kdD370UZv9dXYg0==uVBD7HbP@mail.gmail.com>
	<4D2ED8D6.2080701@andre-bell.de>
Message-ID: <AANLkTimWnysm8Mzg5zuNeYH31+Rs4e0Voh845-xogh0t@mail.gmail.com>

The Euclidean Algorithm only needs %.  The*Extended* Euclidean Algorithm can
use divmod.

The code below is from my cryptography course last semester, where I wanted
to use polymorphism and have the xgcd also work for my polynomial classes
implementing finite fields.  Hence I do not take absolute values that give
the official definition with integers.  I kept the function docs for
integers, and they would get a lot shorter if you just threw in the absolute
value (or assume nonnegative inputs).

Andy

#! /usr/bin/python

def gcd(a,b):
  """Returns the gcd of its inputs times the sign of b if b is nonzero,
  and times the sign of a if b is 0.
  """
  while b != 0:
      a,b = b, a % b
  return a


def xgcd(a,b):
    """Extended GCD:
    Returns (gcd, x, y) where gcd is the greatest common divisor of a and b
    with the sign of b if b is nonzero, and with the sign of a if b is 0.
    The numbers x,y are such that gcd = ax+by."""
    prevx, x = 1, 0;  prevy, y = 0, 1
    while b:
        q, r = divmod(a,b)
        x, prevx = prevx - q*x, x
        y, prevy = prevy - q*y, y
        a, b = b, r
    return a, prevx, prevy

# EXPLANATION:
# Mathematical analysis reveals that at each stage in the calculation
# the current remainder can be expressed in the form ax + by for some
# integers x, y.  Moreover, the x-sequence and y-sequence are
# generated by the recursion (where q is the integer quotient of the
# current division):
#
#         new x = prev x - q * x;   new y = prev y - q * y
#
# and where the initial values are x = 0, prev x = 1, y = 1, prev y = 0.
# Moreover, upon termination the x and y sequences have gone one step
# too far, (as has the remainder), so return the previous x, y values.

def mgcd(a,b):
    """Returns (gcd, x, y, s, t) where
    gcd is the greatest common divisor of a and b, with the sign of b
    if b is nonzero, and with the sign of a if b is 0;
    the numbers x,y, s, t are such that
       gcd = xa+yb
         0 = sa+tb
    and abs(xt-ys) = 1
    Otherwise put: the determinant of matrix (hence m in name)
        x y
        s t
    has magnitude 1, and multiplied by column vector
           a
           b
    is column vector
           gcd
           0
    """
    prevx, x = 1, 0;  prevy, y = 0, 1
    while b:
        q, r = divmod(a, b)
        x, prevx = prevx - q*x, x
        y, prevy = prevy - q*y, y
        a, b = b, r
    return a, prevx, prevy, x, y

##    Change from xgcd:
##    The coefficients for next iteration of xgcd that give 0 there,
##    and are excluded on purpose, are just included here as the last two
##    returned values, so only the end of the last line is differentfrom
xgcd.


On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 4:49 AM, Andre Alexander Bell <news at andre-bell.de>wrote:

> Hello Michel,
>
> On 13.01.2011 07:16, michel paul wrote:
> > But then, what if we want to think about it in purely mathematical
> > terms?  If we agree that, for whatever reason, we cannot convert to
> > strings, how might we think about reversing digits using purely
> > functional reasoning, just % and recursion?  That's how I initially
> > presented it, and then a kid suggested using divmod, and I was
> > delighted.  It totally simplified the expression.
>
> You mean it simplified to something like this:
>
> n = 0
> d = 1234
> while d!=0:
>    d,r = divmod(d,10)
>    n = n*10 + r
>
> > I think it would be great to come up with a list of divmod math
> > problems.  Anybody have some?  I think developing fluency in divmod
> > sorts of reasoning would do a whole lot of good for understanding
> > ratio.  Our current state of high school mathematical literacy that
> > equates a rational number with some bizarre decimal is horrible.
>
> I think that is an interesting point. Actually the Euclid Algorithm is
> another good divmod example.
> On the other hand you might as well argue that numbers in the given
> number system should have an access method to their digits like strings
> to their chars. In that case however, it would feel more natural if the
> indices are reverse. Then each index directly maps to the power of the
> base used. Example:
>
> i = 1234
> i[0] == 4
> i[1] == 3
> i[2] == 2
> i[3] == 1
>
> This would allow for
>
> a = 0
> a[3] = 1
> a == 1000
>
> Regards
>
>
> Andre
>
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>



-- 
Dr. Andrew N. Harrington
  Computer Science Department
  Loyola University Chicago
  512B Lewis Towers (office)
  Snail mail to Lewis Towers 416
  820 North Michigan Avenue
  Chicago, Illinois 60611
http://www.cs.luc.edu/~anh
Phone: 312-915-7982
Fax:    312-915-7998
aharrin at luc.edu
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/attachments/20110113/2c9f499b/attachment.html>

From daniele.gianni at gmail.com  Mon Jan 17 22:45:29 2011
From: daniele.gianni at gmail.com (Daniele Gianni)
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2011 22:45:29 +0100
Subject: [Edu-sig] COMETS 2011 - 2nd International Track on Collaborative
 Modeling and Simulation - Call for Papers
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=8XFaY0Vf8TjXiV5uvoZOPaxoShGFTujLbp=D4@mail.gmail.com>

Please accept our apologies if you receive multiple copies of this CfP)

#################################################################
                 IEEE WETICE 2011
            2nd International Track on
       Collaborative Modeling and Simulation
                 CALL FOR PAPERS
#################################################################

June 27 - June 29, 2011, Paris (France)
http://www.sel.uniroma2.it/CoMetS11

#################################################################
# Papers Due: *** March 5, 2011 ***
# Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings
# by the IEEE Computer Society Press and indexed by EI.
#################################################################

Modeling and Simulation (M&S) is increasingly becoming a central
activity in the design of new systems and in the analysis of
existing systems because it enables designers and researchers to
investigate systems behavior through virtual representations. For
this reason, M&S is gaining a primary role in many industrial and
research fields, such as space, critical infrastructures,
manufacturing, emergency management, biomedical systems and
sustainable future. However, as the complexity of the
investigated systems increases and the types of investigations
widens, the cost of M&S activities increases for the more
complex models and for the communications among a wider number and
variety of M&S stakeholders (e.g., sub-domain experts, simulator
users, simulator engineers, and final system users). To address
the increasing costs of M&S activities, collaborative
technologies must be introduced to support these activities by
fostering the sharing and reuse of models, by facilitating the
communications among M&S stakeholders, and more generally by
integrating processes, tools and platforms.

Aside from seeking applications of collaborative technologies to
M&S activities, the track seeks innovative contributions that
deal with the application of M&S practices to the design of
collaborative environments. These environments are continuously
becoming more complex and therefore their design requires
systematic approaches to meet the required quality of
collaboration. This is important for two reasons: to reduce
rework activities on the actual collaborative environment, and to
maximize the productivity and the quality of the process the
collaborative environment supports. M&S offers the methodologies
and tools for such investigations and therefore it can be used to
improve the quality of collaborative environments.

A non?exhaustive list of topics of interest includes:

* collaborative environments for M&S
* collaborative Systems of Systems M&S
* workflow modelling for collaborative environments and processes
* agent-based M&S
* collaborative distributed simulation
* collaborative component-based M&S
* net-centric M&S
* web-based M&S
* model sharing and reuse
* model building and evaluation
* modeling and simulation of business processes
* modeling for collaboration
* simulation-based performance evaluation of collaborative networks
* model-driven simulation engineering
* domain specific languages for the simulation of collaborative environments
* domain specific languages for collaborative M&S
* databases and repositories for M&S
* distributed virtual environments
* virtual research environment for M&S

To stimulate creativity, however, the track maintains a wider
scope and invites interested researchers to present contributions
that offer original perspectives on collaboration and M&S.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On-Line Submissions and Publication
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

CoMetS'11 intends to bring together researchers and practitioners
to discuss key issues, approaches, open problems, innovative
applications and trends in the track research area.

Papers should contain original contributions not published or
submitted elsewhere. Papers up to six pages (including figures,
tables and references) can be submitted. Papers should follow the
IEEE format, which is single spaced, two columns, 10 pt
Times/Roman font. All submissions should be electronic (in PDF)
and will be peer-reviewed by at least three program committee
members.

Accepted full papers will be included in the proceedings and
 published by the IEEE Computer Society Press (IEEE
approval pending). Please note that at least one author for each
accepted paper should register to attend WETICE 2011 to have the
paper published in the proceedings.

Authors may contact the organizers for expression of interests
and content appropriateness at any time. Papers can be submitted
in PDF format at the submission site
(https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=comets2011), which is
supported by the EasyChair conference management system. Please
contact the track chairs (comets2011 at easychair.org) if you
experience problems with the EasyChair Web site.

+++++++++++++++
Important Dates
+++++++++++++++

* Submission Deadline: March 5, 2011
* Decision to paper authors: April 4, 2011
* Final version of accepted papers due to IEEE: April 29, 2011
* Conference dates: June 27 - June 29, 2011


++++++++++++++++++++
Organizing Committee
++++++++++++++++++++

* Andrea D'Ambrogio, University of Roma TorVergata, Italy
* Daniele Gianni, European Space Agency, The Netherlands
* Joachim Fuchs, European Space Agency, The Netherlands
* Giuseppe Iazeolla, University of Roma TorVergata, Italy

+++++++++++++++++
Program Committee
+++++++++++++++++

* Santiago Balestrini, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
* Torsten Bieler, European Space Agency, The Netherlands
* Olivier Dalle, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS & INRIA, France
* Joseph Giampapa, SEI, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
* Ralph Huntsinger, Beijng University of Aeronautics and Astronautics,
China
and California State University, USA
* Axel Lehmann, Universitaet der Bundeswehr Muenchen, Germany
* Cristiano Leorato, Rhea, The Netherlands
* Brian Lewis, Vanguard Software Corporation, USA
* Steve McKeever, University of Oxford, UK
* David Nickerson, Auckland Bioengineering Institute, NZ
* Alfred Park, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, USA
* Wolfgang Prinz, Fraunhofer FIT and RWTH Aachen, Germany
* Jos? L. Risco-Martin, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
* Maarten Sierhuis, NASA and Palo Alto Research Center, USA
* Hans Vangheluwe, University of Antwerp, Belgium, and McGill University,
Canada
* Gabriel Wainer, Carleton University, Canada
* Quirien Wijnands, European Space Agency, The Netherlands
* Heming Zhang, Tsinghua University, China

*** Contact Information ***
Daniele Gianni (track co-chair)
Email: daniele.gianni at esa.int
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/attachments/20110117/2b5d3441/attachment.html>

From vceder at gmail.com  Tue Jan 18 03:15:22 2011
From: vceder at gmail.com (Vern Ceder)
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2011 21:15:22 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] PyCon Poster proposals
Message-ID: <AANLkTik9ed88O=bByHc09hMd-E-gZ_WyJz8MKeA2ATmk@mail.gmail.com>

Hi everyone,

The deadline for poster proposals for PyCon 2011 is fast approaching.
While we actually do have some education themed posters this year, I
wanted to make sure that everyone here on edu-sig got one final
reminder. Below is the announcement that will be making the rounds
shortly, but seeing where my loyalties lie, you all get it first! ;)

If you want to get the word out about a project or share some of your
Pythonic research and innovation in a poster, let me invite you to put
in your proposal now - spots are limited and posters are being
approved on a rolling basis as submitted.

If you want to submit a poster, please check out the CFP at
http://us.pycon.org/2011/speaker/posters/cfp/. If you have any
questions don't hesitate to email me directly at vceder <AT>
gmail.com.

You may want to keep in mind the following:

1. a poster is a very different medium than a talk. You have 4x4 feet
of space to present your topic with text and graphics. Since viewers
will usually be at least 6-10 feet away from your poster, a bunch of
slides or dense text will make a poor poster.

2. successful posters generate more personal conversations between the
presenter and the attendees viewing the poster.

Poster proposals are being evaluated and accepted on a rolling basis
until January 19 or the 35 available slots are taken, so it's very
much a "first come first served, supplies are limited" situation.

All the best,
Vern Ceder, PyCon Poster Session Chair


-- 
Vern Ceder
vceder at gmail.com, vceder at dogsinmotion.com
The Quick Python Book, 2nd Ed - http://bit.ly/bRsWDW

From vceder at gmail.com  Mon Jan 24 05:16:51 2011
From: vceder at gmail.com (Vern Ceder)
Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2011 23:16:51 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Poster proposals open until Tuesday
Message-ID: <AANLkTimONxfh-EwPBvQNzG0NsOzDuh0v_fkGP7h35FX0@mail.gmail.com>

Hey,

I just wanted to make sure that everyone was aware that poster session
proposals are still being accepted for PyCon. The deadline has been
extended until Tuesday, January 25, to match the new early bird
registration deadline. We do have a couple of great education themed
posters, but I would love to see more. Just stop by
http://us.pycon.org/2011/speaker/posters/cfp/ to find out how to
submit a poster.

Cheers,
Vern

-- 
Vern Ceder
vceder at gmail.com, vceder at dogsinmotion.com
The Quick Python Book, 2nd Ed - http://bit.ly/bRsWDW