From mamckenna at sch.ci.lexington.ma.us Tue Jan 1 12:03:06 2013 From: mamckenna at sch.ci.lexington.ma.us (Marianne McKenna) Date: Tue, 01 Jan 2013 06:03:06 -0500 Subject: [Edu-sig] Edu-sig Digest, Vol 114, Issue 1 Message-ID: I will be out of the office for the holiday break. I will be checking email periodically and will respond as soon as I can. If you need immediate help please contact the computer center. Thanks. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mamckenna at sch.ci.lexington.ma.us Wed Jan 2 12:01:16 2013 From: mamckenna at sch.ci.lexington.ma.us (Marianne McKenna) Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2013 06:01:16 -0500 Subject: [Edu-sig] Edu-sig Digest, Vol 114, Issue 2 Message-ID: I will be out of the office for the holiday break. I will be checking email periodically and will respond as soon as I can. If you need immediate help please contact the computer center. Thanks. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kirby.urner at gmail.com Sat Jan 12 03:56:44 2013 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:56:44 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] this room is occupied (multi-threading metaphor) Message-ID: I think an obvious way to describe the use of locks when multi-threading is to use the coffee shop model (same as airplane model), where there's only one bathroom / toilet. Or maybe there are two but each takes its own key. Or mulitple unisex (still for one passenger only) like portable ones at the fair. boyz = threading.Lock() girlz = threading.Lock() Only one customer per bathroom at any one time, so there's a queue for the keys (we call them locks but they're like keys that unlock your access to the facilities, then you release it back at the counter so another customer might go). Kirby Speaking of airplanes.... Snakes on a plane: http://gawker.com/5974780/snake-on-a-plane-qantas-passenger-spots-python-on-wing-during-flight http://xkcd.com/107/ From ntoll at ntoll.org Sat Jan 12 21:56:16 2013 From: ntoll at ntoll.org (Nicholas H.Tollervey) Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2013 20:56:16 +0000 Subject: [Edu-sig] this room is occupied (multi-threading metaphor) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <50F1CDF0.2030409@ntoll.org> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 There are lots of ways this analogy could be extended with amusing consequences (just remembering back to when I used to regularly teach teenagers - they would have had a field day with it). :-) "It's like there's just one loo (but make sure you don't block)." (Sorry). :-P N. On 12/01/13 02:56, kirby urner wrote: > I think an obvious way to describe the use of locks when > multi-threading is to use the coffee shop model (same as airplane > model), where there's only one bathroom / toilet. Or maybe there > are two but each takes its own key. Or mulitple unisex (still for > one passenger only) like portable ones at the fair. > > boyz = threading.Lock() girlz = threading.Lock() > > Only one customer per bathroom at any one time, so there's a queue > for the keys (we call them locks but they're like keys that unlock > your access to the facilities, then you release it back at the > counter so another customer might go). > > Kirby > > Speaking of airplanes.... > > Snakes on a plane: > http://gawker.com/5974780/snake-on-a-plane-qantas-passenger-spots-python-on-wing-during-flight > > http://xkcd.com/107/ > _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing > list Edu-sig at python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with undefined - http://www.enigmail.net/ iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJQ8c3wAAoJEP0qBPaYQbb6un4H+wZWOCV+ILnqEK+X5abwMzZd R8g5CnRRo1I2nyUFi5WZN3IhlYa2BG3JJF50gzWvxvrVyMYUPDgbf6xxyN2f99UX NEnmpigW7SniWUpVfW6Ehr5PPdabT3piYVUpyygtr27ElN78l4zWMx6ojmmm8lLQ uo4lrimZAG0i843IqbbQ+n93qF+lRCEnN9e25yvwO/c8SiVi6kY2rLqxW/fds1YA M5W2fOAVdrwFsNAA/T7q/htFWaBmb+EY0t52WAmS49btcvEck4l8Gj3lY7brYoMv HrtnQ8iNyVDecRhqnC+XvzsSHcJ2/3754bgc/OS8Wc3kWVvkPjOQ5jnkFvGmNq4= =fiWY -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From kirby.urner at gmail.com Sun Jan 13 00:20:40 2013 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2013 15:20:40 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] this room is occupied (multi-threading metaphor) In-Reply-To: <50F1CDF0.2030409@ntoll.org> References: <50F1CDF0.2030409@ntoll.org> Message-ID: On Sat, Jan 12, 2013 at 12:56 PM, Nicholas H.Tollervey wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > There are lots of ways this analogy could be extended with amusing > consequences (just remembering back to when I used to regularly teach > teenagers - they would have had a field day with it). :-) > > "It's like there's just one loo (but make sure you don't block)." > > (Sorry). :-P > > N. > Funny you should mention as I'm just reviewing an old presentation where I get into the scatological / demented humor layer endemic at various levels, starting in fairly early childhood. Why not tap into that? "Mad libs" were my point-in-common, i.e. wacky stories with missing user-supplied elements, a way to get into the whole topic of string substitution, important to STEM even if current math standards don't see where it goes. Excepts from the slide show mentioned below: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kirbyurner/8373804657/in/photostream/lightbox/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/kirbyurner/8373804285/in/photostream/lightbox/ What I do in some courses is show how a Python class itself looks like a many-ribbed snake: class Python: def __rib__(self): pass def __rib__(self): pass def __rib__(self): pass def __rib__(self): pass def __rib__(self): pass def __rib__(self): pass (legal but useless except for diagramming purposes i.e. shows the "rib cage"). This begets the view of classes as organisms (perhaps genetically modified) with bowel functions, a metabolism. Hence the need for a self.stomach and snake.eat( ) and snake.poop() methods -- self.stomach a FIFO column. Kirby ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: kirby urner Date: Sat, Jan 12, 2013 at 12:59 PM Subject: Re: thoughts about your paper To: David B Koski Yeah, I replied. I've done lots of conferences. Sometimes I just have to prepare slides and talk, other times a paper too. For EuroPython (Vilnius, Lithuania) I was asked to do a paper. It was not at all just a script for the slides. Paper: http://4dsolutions.net/presentations/urner_europython_2007.pdf Slides: http://4dsolutions.net/presentations/connectingthedots.pdf Kirby From baggiepr at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 10:55:10 2013 From: baggiepr at gmail.com (Philip Bagge) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:55:10 +0000 Subject: [Edu-sig] Easy Web Environment to post pupils Python Creations Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, My Y6 pupils (10-11 year olds) have been creating some simple text based linear adventures using Python. Does anyone know of a way we can play their adventures online? They are not very complicated. You can see the planning here. https://sites.google.com/site/pythoncodecouk/python-adventure Also as a new person to your forum does anyone know of an easy way to search you archives just in case someone has already answered this question. Thanks in advance for any help Phil Bagge -- Primary ICT Advanced Skills Teacher HCC Teacher & IT Manager http://code-it.co.uk -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jjposner at optimum.net Wed Jan 16 15:10:53 2013 From: jjposner at optimum.net (John Posner) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:10:53 -0500 Subject: [Edu-sig] Easy Web Environment to post pupils Python Creations In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <50F6B4ED.3010406@optimum.net> On 1/16/2013 6:00 AM, edu-sig-request at python.org wrote: > > My Y6 pupils (10-11 year olds) have been creating some simple text based > linear adventures using Python. > Does anyone know of a way we can play their adventures online? > They are not very complicated. > You can see the planning here. > https://sites.google.com/site/pythoncodecouk/python-adventure > Crunchy might help: http://showmedo.com/videotutorials/series?name=jBz4yv8Xg > Also as a new person to your forum does anyone know of an easy way to > search you archives just in case someone has already answered this question. > http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/ From andre.roberge at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 15:49:03 2013 From: andre.roberge at gmail.com (Andre Roberge) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 10:49:03 -0400 Subject: [Edu-sig] Easy Web Environment to post pupils Python Creations In-Reply-To: <50F6B4ED.3010406@optimum.net> References: <50F6B4ED.3010406@optimum.net> Message-ID: On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 10:10 AM, John Posner wrote: > On 1/16/2013 6:00 AM, edu-sig-request at python.org wrote: > > > > My Y6 pupils (10-11 year olds) have been creating some simple text based > > linear adventures using Python. > > Does anyone know of a way we can play their adventures online? > > They are not very complicated. > > You can see the planning here. > > https://sites.google.com/site/pythoncodecouk/python-adventure > > > > Crunchy might help: > > http://showmedo.com/videotutorials/series?name=jBz4yv8Xg > > And, if you try this and have any question about Crunchy, feel free to email me directly off-list. This applies to anyone on this list. Andr? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From csev at umich.edu Wed Jan 16 18:39:23 2013 From: csev at umich.edu (Charles Severance) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 12:39:23 -0500 Subject: [Edu-sig] Free / Open MOOC with Open Materials Message-ID: <3BFBB200-9899-40F1-AF22-247A0643C076@umich.edu> Hi all, I just wanted to let you know about a very open Python MOOC I am doing over the next 10 weeks. It is a little different than other MOOCs in that everything is open and reusable/remix-able materials. It is based on my book "Python for Informatics: Exploring Information". It is derived from Alan Downey's + Jeff Elkner's Think Python book with a switch form a math-focus to more of a data-focus. I am doing an experiment where I am mixing 70 of my on-campus students with about 220 open-enrollment students in the same learning environment. I hope the things I am building like an auto-grader based on Brad Miller's Skulpt in browser Python environment can be helpful to other teachers. I figured I would let the edu-sig folks know about the course. http://online.dr-chuck.com/ http://www.pythonlearn.com/ Folks can still join the course until early February and I have a playground space that is always open for folks to watch lectures and play with the auto-grader. Comments welcome. Charles Severance University of Michigan http://www.dr-chuck.com/ From jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com Sat Jan 19 01:21:11 2013 From: jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com (Jurgis Pralgauskis) Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2013 02:21:11 +0200 Subject: [Edu-sig] Easy Web Environment to post pupils Python Creations In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: http://www.skulpt.org/ or http://www.brython.info/ ? They are made on javascript - so if you don't need to save stuff serverside - might be good enough. On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 11:55 AM, Philip Bagge wrote: > Dear Colleagues, > > My Y6 pupils (10-11 year olds) have been creating some simple text based > linear adventures using Python. > Does anyone know of a way we can play their adventures online? > They are not very complicated. > You can see the planning here. > https://sites.google.com/site/pythoncodecouk/python-adventure > > Also as a new person to your forum does anyone know of an easy way to search > you archives just in case someone has already answered this question. > > Thanks in advance for any help > > Phil Bagge > > > -- > Primary ICT Advanced Skills Teacher HCC > Teacher & IT Manager > http://code-it.co.uk > > _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list > Edu-sig at python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig > -- Jurgis Pralgauskis tel: 8-616 77613; Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;) http://galvosukykla.lt From peirce.dan at gmail.com Thu Jan 24 01:32:33 2013 From: peirce.dan at gmail.com (Dan Peirce) Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:32:33 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] Drs. Fotis Georgatos's MSc thesis Message-ID: On the Page http://www.python.org/community/sigs/current/edu-sig/ Under Academic Papers there is a link to ?Drs. Fotis Georgatos's MSc thesis, How applicable is Python as first computer language for teaching programming in a pre-university educational environment, from a teacher's point of view?? http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0809/0809.1437.pdf On the third page of the thesis it says ?Each word of this thesis is plagiarized. I have never generated a single word myself.? So is this a real thesis? Was he making a joke? Is the link supposed to be a Joke? I?m asking since I quoted it twice and then someone asked me the same question. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andre.roberge at gmail.com Thu Jan 24 01:38:50 2013 From: andre.roberge at gmail.com (Andre Roberge) Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 20:38:50 -0400 Subject: [Edu-sig] Drs. Fotis Georgatos's MSc thesis In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 8:32 PM, Dan Peirce wrote: > On the Page http://www.python.org/community/sigs/current/edu-sig/ > > > > Under Academic Papers there is a link to ?Drs. Fotis Georgatos's MSc > thesis, How applicable is Python as first computer language for teaching > programming in a pre-university educational environment, from a teacher's > point of view?? > > > > http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0809/0809.1437.pdf > > > > On the third page of the thesis it says ?Each word of this thesis is > plagiarized. I have never generated a single word myself.? > I took that as a joke; very few people invent new words, so we are all plagiarizing in that sense. Here's what he posted on this very list in 2008! ===== Hello *, since I occasionaly get people interested in my MSc thesis that was written long ago (2002) - people even reference it but, it's rather hard to get the original being somewhere in Amsterdam - I hereby inform you of its electronic presence at arxiv.org: arXiv:0809.1437 [pdf] Title: How applicable is Python as first computer language for teaching programming in a pre-university educational environment, from a teacher's point of view? Authors: Fotis Georgatos Comments: 135 pages, 20 tables, 10 figures (incl. evolution of computer languages) Subjects: Programming Languages (cs.PL); Computers and Society (cs.CY) Abstract: This project report attempts to evaluate the educational properties of the Python computer language, in practice. This is done by examining computer language evolution history, related scientific background work, the existing educational research on computer languages and Python's experimental application in higher secondary education in Greece, during first half of year 2002. This Thesis Report was delivered in advance of a thesis defense for a Masters/Doctorandus (MSc/Drs) title with the Amstel Institute/Universiteit van Amsterdam, during the same year. =========== Andr? > So is this a real thesis? Was he making a joke? Is the link supposed to be a > Joke? > > > > I?m asking since I quoted it twice and then someone asked me the same > question. > > > _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list > Edu-sig at python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig > From kurner at oreillyschool.com Thu Jan 24 08:51:51 2013 From: kurner at oreillyschool.com (Kirby Urner) Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:51:51 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] Drs. Fotis Georgatos's MSc thesis In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 4:38 PM, Andre Roberge wrote: << snip >> > I took that as a joke; very few people invent new words, so we are all > plagiarizing in that sense. > > Yes, I see it that way too. The individual words we use do not originate with us. Plagiarism is less about the individual words than their lengthier permutations in the form of sentences and paragraphs. Kirby -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kirby.urner at gmail.com Thu Jan 24 09:03:42 2013 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2013 00:03:42 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] ApacheCon: it's about a lot more than Apache webserver Message-ID: http://projects.apache.org/ (FYI) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Steve Holden Date: Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 3:03 PM Subject: Time to make a noise ... We'd appreciate your help in creating a little more buzz about ApacheCon NA. It turns out that another major West coast big data/cloud conference has been scheduled on exactly the same days as ApacheCon, reducing the anticipated effects of our marketing and PR efforts. On the plus side, this other conference is highly likely to sell out, and when it does the Apache community can be standing by with a welcoming smile on its face. So we may pick up late registrations. At the moment, however, numbers are lower than anticipated, which is where you come in. The really effective way to get the word out is via community channels. The life blood of any conference is the people who pay to go through the doors. The existing community members get a chance to meet old friends and work together. There will also be people who maybe work with your code every day but would not think of themselves as committer material (they probably think of existing committers are rock stars). So the people who know you by your professional reputation are exactly the people who might attend ApacheCon. If they know you are going, they are more likely to go. If you have blogs or other web presences and want to help publicize the conference, banner graphics are available at http://holdenweb.com/acna13gfx/ Please remind any relevant mailing lists you belong to that ApacheCon is coming (33 days to go at the time of writing) and that if they don't register soon they run the risk of losing the 30% discount we negotiated on the hotel room rate. Steve Holden steve at holdenweb.com +1 571 484 6266 @holdenweb -- Python classes (and much more) through the web http://oreillyschool.com/ Conferences and technical event management at http://theopenbastion.com/ Next event: ApacheCon NA 2013: Feb 26-28 http://na.apachecon.com/ Community events: Barcamp Feb 24 Hackathon Feb 25 Development Mar 1/2 From ipythonstudent at eml.cc Sat Jan 26 02:54:01 2013 From: ipythonstudent at eml.cc (Kevin) Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:54:01 -0500 Subject: [Edu-sig] PyGeo Message-ID: <1359165241.27596.140661182476649.728DBD66@webmail.messagingengine.com> Hi folks, I'm new to python and super-excited about using it for all sorts of reasons including education (especially math education). I've been reading a great deal on the subject, and I discovered some of Kirby's resources at http://4dsolutions.net/ocn/cp4e.html which have been very helpful. I was especially intrigued by the very simple Euclid's algorithm that he showed in the python for math teachers videos at http://showmedo.com/videotutorials/series?name=JkD78HdCD I'm also very interested in VPython and PyGeo. I read a fair amount of background on PyGeo including the sad news of Arthur's passing in 2007. And I've searched the web for news on the current status of PyGeo since Arthur passed, and have found very little . Can anyone give me any better insights on the state of the PyGeo code base? From http://pygeo.sourceforge.net/ it looks like the last revision to the PyGeo code base was 7 years ago, but perhaps someone here knows of more recent developments with PyGeo? With all the changes that have taken place since 2007, does anyone know if I should expect that PyGeo will still work ok with Python 2.7 or Python 3.2? Also, has anyone shown any interest in continuing to develop PyGeo? Although I'm very new and still have a lot to learn, Arthur sounds like he was a man after my own heart, and I suspect that I would enjoy trying to pick up his PyGeo work where he left off if nobody else has done so. I probably will not be able (skill-wise) to improve upon his work in the next year or so, but I can't help thinking it might be feasible for me after that. I'd welcome reading any thoughts on these or related issues via private email or public list follow-up. Thanks everyone. -Kevin From kirby.urner at gmail.com Sat Jan 26 07:07:23 2013 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2013 22:07:23 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] PyGeo In-Reply-To: <1359165241.27596.140661182476649.728DBD66@webmail.messagingengine.com> References: <1359165241.27596.140661182476649.728DBD66@webmail.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: These are excellent questions Kevin. Arthur was an extraordinarily bright and committed guy and took his winnings in financial services to fund a long sabbatical studying what really most interested him: projective geometry. He really admired Klein. Those mining the archives may think Arthur and I were enemies but we were actually sparring partners and liked testing each other. I met him a few times, twice in New York City and I think once at a Pycon. Anyway, given he was largely self taught in a lot of ways, I expect his quirky genius is manifest in the code. He wanted people to study his source and wrote it with that in mind. He felt that precisely because he'd clawed his way through this knowledge on his own, that he had valuable perspectives and people might get some value following in his footsteps, if only to see where he might have gone wrong (and I'm suggesting this is likely true). In the years since Arthur's death yours is the first email across my radar with anything close to this high a level of curiosity about Pygeo. In other words, I am aware of no developments since he left off working on it himself. If you wanted to make that a niche and try to recruit more talent to continuing this work, I have no reason to think you'd have competition at this point. Both Python and Visual Python have continued to evolve. In particular I'm away that VPython is now working better with wxPython than ever before, at least on Windows. Arthur always thought highly of Visual (which meant he was confrontational with its developers), and thought everyone under-appreciated its great worth to Python. Blender is so difficult, relatively speaking. Those are my initial thoughts. Arthur would be delighted, I think, to have his code carried forward in some way. Kirby On Fri, Jan 25, 2013 at 5:54 PM, Kevin wrote: > Hi folks, > > I'm new to python and super-excited about using it for all sorts of > reasons including education (especially math education). I've been > reading a great deal on the subject, and I discovered some of Kirby's > resources at http://4dsolutions.net/ocn/cp4e.html which have been very > helpful. I was especially intrigued by the very simple Euclid's > algorithm that he showed in the python for math teachers videos at > http://showmedo.com/videotutorials/series?name=JkD78HdCD > > I'm also very interested in VPython and PyGeo. I read a fair amount of > background on PyGeo including the sad news of Arthur's passing in 2007. > And I've searched the web for news on the current status of PyGeo since > Arthur passed, and have found very little > . > > Can anyone give me any better insights on the state of the PyGeo code > base? From http://pygeo.sourceforge.net/ it looks like the last revision > to the PyGeo code base was 7 years ago, but perhaps someone here knows > of more recent developments with PyGeo? > > With all the changes that have taken place since 2007, does anyone know > if I should expect that PyGeo will still work ok with Python 2.7 or > Python 3.2? > > Also, has anyone shown any interest in continuing to develop PyGeo? > Although I'm very new and still have a lot to learn, Arthur sounds like > he was a man after my own heart, and I suspect that I would enjoy trying > to pick up his PyGeo work where he left off if nobody else has done so. > I probably will not be able (skill-wise) to improve upon his work in the > next year or so, but I can't help thinking it might be feasible for me > after that. > > I'd welcome reading any thoughts on these or related issues via private > email or public list follow-up. > > Thanks everyone. > > -Kevin > _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list > Edu-sig at python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig From peirce.dan at gmail.com Mon Jan 28 06:52:50 2013 From: peirce.dan at gmail.com (Dan Peirce) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 21:52:50 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] Teaching Math with Python Message-ID: I came across an old story at http://onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2000/10/04/pythonnews.html about Teaching Math with Python. Unfortunately the links are now broken. Is there more current information available? Any online publications? From gherman at darwin.in-berlin.de Mon Jan 28 09:32:35 2013 From: gherman at darwin.in-berlin.de (Dinu Gherman) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:32:35 +0100 Subject: [Edu-sig] Teaching Math with Python In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <31EB9819-9980-4EE8-85A6-C2DB80E09F29@darwin.in-berlin.de> Dan Peirce wrote: > I came across an old story at > http://onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2000/10/04/pythonnews.html > > about Teaching Math with Python. > Unfortunately the links are now broken. Is there more current > information available? > Any online publications? Just an idea... Have you tried http://archive.org? Cheers, Dinu From wjb131 at web.de Mon Jan 28 09:46:35 2013 From: wjb131 at web.de (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=22Wolfgang_J=2E_B=FCchel=22?=) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:46:35 +0100 Subject: [Edu-sig] Teaching Math with Python In-Reply-To: <31EB9819-9980-4EE8-85A6-C2DB80E09F29@darwin.in-berlin.de> References: <31EB9819-9980-4EE8-85A6-C2DB80E09F29@darwin.in-berlin.de> Message-ID: <51063AEB.3010909@web.de> hello Dan, you can find most of the material of the dead links in http://onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2000/10/04/pythonnews.html on kirby's new site: http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/cp4e.html Wolfgang Am 28.01.2013 09:32, schrieb Dinu Gherman: > Dan Peirce wrote: > >> I came across an old story at >> http://onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2000/10/04/pythonnews.html >> >> about Teaching Math with Python. >> Unfortunately the links are now broken. Is there more current >> information available? >> Any online publications? > > Just an idea... Have you tried http://archive.org? > > Cheers, > > Dinu > > _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list > Edu-sig at python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig > From kirby.urner at gmail.com Mon Jan 28 09:51:18 2013 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:51:18 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] Teaching Math with Python In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 9:52 PM, Dan Peirce wrote: > I came across an old story at > http://onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2000/10/04/pythonnews.html > > about Teaching Math with Python. > Unfortunately the links are now broken. Is there more current > information available? > Any online publications? > I'm fixing these links for ya, thanks for dredging that up. Ah, but this is Rich Text, I forget what happens to the URLs in the edu-sig archives.... >From the article: """ Urner is writing curricula for teaching math using Python. The world of textbooks and the educational system in general is too excruciatingly slow, though. Urner has taken his curriculum to the web with the Oregon Curriculum Network , a web publishing platform and model for other curriculum developers. This site is a blessing for home schoolers and rogue educators looking for an alternative math curriculum. In February he started with a four-part article on Numeracy and Computer Literacy . In these articles he covers analysis of number series, vectors, primes, and random movement through a matrix. All of these are backed with examples in Python. Inspired by some new features in Python 2.0 (zip() and list comprehensions), Urner has published this month ideas for teaching Precalc with Python 2.0 . He uses Python to bring clarity to precalc formulas and uses POV-Ray to bring them to life. """ (History: Internet Arena, my ISP at the time, up and left with no notice, leaving many links broken). Here are those URIs again: Oregon Curriculum Network: http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/ Numeracy and Computer Literacy: http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/numeracy0.html Precalc with Python 2.0: http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/precalc.html Kirby _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list > Edu-sig at python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From francois.dion at gmail.com Tue Jan 29 21:43:22 2013 From: francois.dion at gmail.com (Francois Dion) Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:43:22 -0500 Subject: [Edu-sig] Easy Web Environment to post pupils Python Creations In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 7:21 PM, Jurgis Pralgauskis wrote: > http://www.skulpt.org/ or http://www.brython.info/ ? > They are made on javascript - so if you don't need to save stuff > serverside - might be good enough. I didn't have time to comment on this earlier, but as a follow up on this Brython will allow you to directly save client side using HTML5 local storage. You can also save through an ajax call, so you could create a small write() function (in Python) to wrap an ajax call (req = ajax() and then req.open in synchronous mode and req.send) to post the data to your server, but it does require some infrastructure. Regarding the original question, about putting text adventures on the web, it's a funny thing, because that's what I've had on my mind since I heard about Brython. Initially it didn't even have print(), and to me that was a basic requirement. so I created a webprint for brython ( http://raspberry-python.blogspot.com/2012/12/brython-browser-python.html ), but then Pierre (the author) added print(). The next piece of the puzzle was the raw_input() (or in this case input() since Brython is Python 3.x ). Pierre, Andre (Roberge, fellow edu-sig member) and I went through various discussions on how this could work. In the end, I had to go back to my original thought of having input() bringing up a web browser prompt (javascript prompt) so the call would be blocking, to flow just like a Python script. To test this, I grabbed a simple python text adventure from a blog ( http://livingcode.org/entries/2008-02-22_simple-text-adventure/ ) and plugged it in the web page, with minimum change, namely to convert it to Python 3.x syntax. The purpose of getting code I didn't write to test the idea, was that I knew how to code around the limitations of a web browser (event driven vs the linear approach of a typical Python script), so if my code ran ok, it wouldn't prove the suitability of the solution. So the code from the blog ran, but it's not 100% what one would expect. You can check it out for yourselves here (it's my Brython playground, on free hosting so it's not particularly fast to answer): http://brython.heliohost.org/demos/simpleadventure.html A more proper way of doing this does require eliminating the while True: loop and replacing it with a function, and moving the input to the end of the function: http://brython.heliohost.org/demos/simpleadventure1.html Still, it is close to a solution. Francois -- www.pyptug.org - raspberry-python.blogspot.com - @f_dion From andre.roberge at gmail.com Tue Jan 29 22:13:38 2013 From: andre.roberge at gmail.com (Andre Roberge) Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 17:13:38 -0400 Subject: [Edu-sig] Easy Web Environment to post pupils Python Creations In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Tue, Jan 29, 2013 at 4:43 PM, Francois Dion wrote: > On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 7:21 PM, Jurgis Pralgauskis > wrote: > > http://www.skulpt.org/ or http://www.brython.info/ ? > > They are made on javascript - so if you don't need to save stuff > > serverside - might be good enough. > > > Regarding the original question, about putting text adventures on the > web, it's a funny thing, because that's what I've had on my mind since > I heard about Brython. Initially it didn't even have print(), and to > me that was a basic requirement. so I created a webprint for brython ( > http://raspberry-python.blogspot.com/2012/12/brython-browser-python.html > ), but then Pierre (the author) added print(). The next piece of the > puzzle was the raw_input() (or in this case input() since Brython is > Python 3.x ). Pierre, Andre (Roberge, fellow edu-sig member) and I > went through various discussions on how this could work. In the end, I > had to go back to my original thought of having input() bringing up a > web browser prompt (javascript prompt) so the call would be blocking, > to flow just like a Python script. > > To test this, I grabbed a simple python text adventure from a blog ( > http://livingcode.org/entries/2008-02-22_simple-text-adventure/ ) and > plugged it in the web page, with minimum change, namely to convert it > to Python 3.x syntax. The purpose of getting code I didn't write to > test the idea, was that I knew how to code around the limitations of a > web browser (event driven vs the linear approach of a typical Python > script), so if my code ran ok, it wouldn't prove the suitability of > the solution. So the code from the blog ran, but it's not 100% what > one would expect. You can check it out for yourselves here (it's my > Brython playground, on free hosting so it's not particularly fast to > answer): > > http://brython.heliohost.org/demos/simpleadventure.html Having just tried it, I noticed a problem with it that I had not anticipated when thinking of using prompt for input. the information written in the textarea (?) needs to be scrolled up; however, the prompt prevents a user from doing so. . > > > A more proper way of doing this does require eliminating the while > True: loop and replacing it with a function, and moving the input to > the end of the function: > > http://brython.heliohost.org/demos/simpleadventure1.html > > This works much better. The way I would describe, without looking at the code, would be like a state machine. The "world" is stored as an object; when the user enters a command, a single function call is issue [ "update(user_input)"] and some feedback is given. Impressive. Andr? > Still, it is close to a solution. > > Francois > > -- > www.pyptug.org - raspberry-python.blogspot.com - @f_dion > _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list > Edu-sig at python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From francois.dion at gmail.com Tue Jan 29 22:42:55 2013 From: francois.dion at gmail.com (Francois Dion) Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:42:55 -0500 Subject: [Edu-sig] Easy Web Environment to post pupils Python Creations In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Tue, Jan 29, 2013 at 4:13 PM, Andre Roberge wrote: > On Tue, Jan 29, 2013 at 4:43 PM, Francois Dion > wrote: >> To test this, I grabbed a simple python text adventure from a blog ( >> http://livingcode.org/entries/2008-02-22_simple-text-adventure/ ) and >> plugged it in the web page, with minimum change, namely to convert it >> to Python 3.x syntax. The purpose of getting code I didn't write to >> test the idea, was that I knew how to code around the limitations of a >> web browser (event driven vs the linear approach of a typical Python >> script), so if my code ran ok, it wouldn't prove the suitability of >> the solution. So the code from the blog ran, but it's not 100% what >> one would expect. You can check it out for yourselves here (it's my >> Brython playground, on free hosting so it's not particularly fast to >> answer): >> >> http://brython.heliohost.org/demos/simpleadventure.html > > > > Having just tried it, I noticed a problem with it that I had not anticipated > when thinking of using prompt for input. the information written in the > textarea (?) needs to be scrolled up; however, the prompt prevents a user > from doing so. Easily solved using: cs = doc["console"] cs.scrollTop = cs.scrollHeight - cs.clientHeight I did a quick live edit on the file, if you refresh, should work. The text area will scroll as output is printed. So once that is integrated to the console output class, and combining that with the separate file for python, You could reuse the same html / brython template for all the various adventures that students write. If anybody is interested in that, I'll post the template. >> A more proper way of doing this does require eliminating the while >> True: loop and replacing it with a function, and moving the input to >> the end of the function: >> >> http://brython.heliohost.org/demos/simpleadventure1.html >> > This works much better. The way I would describe, without looking at the > code, would be like a state machine. The "world" is stored as an object; > when the user enters a command, a single function call is issue [ > "update(user_input)"] and some feedback is given. Impressive. > > Andr? But it uses an onchange event. Although Brython introduces events as native to "Python", I'm still hoping to find an even better solution. Or at least wrap the code automatically. Francois -- www.pyptug.org - raspberry-python.blogspot.com - @f_dion From jumasheff at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 06:10:54 2013 From: jumasheff at gmail.com (Murat Jumashev) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:10:54 +0600 Subject: [Edu-sig] Python's keywords and functions convertor into native language for lowering entrance barrier Message-ID: Hi, My name is Murat, I am from Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic (Central Asia). First off let me apologize if I chose a wrong mailing list (please, kindly point me a right mailing list to go). I am new to programming and I started from Python because it's very smooth and readable lang. But it would not be easy for me to start learning programming concepts without knowing basic English. What I want to ask is is it possible to create a (buffer/middleware) keywords and functions convertor-from-pythonese-English-to-pythonese-Kyrgyz (and vice-versa) so that students with poor/no English could start learning to code in their native language(s)? i.e. print / ?????, if / ??????, else / ???????, elif / ?? ??????? etc. I am impressed by the guy who have invented an arabic programming language in order to overcome a (natural) language barrier: http://killscreendaily.com/headlines/arabic-programming-language-middle-eastern-games/ But I think it's more rational to write a native-to-pythonese-convertor rather than inventing a new language from scratch. Can anyone tell me from where to start? Thank you. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andre.roberge at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 12:36:15 2013 From: andre.roberge at gmail.com (Andre Roberge) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 07:36:15 -0400 Subject: [Edu-sig] Python's keywords and functions convertor into native language for lowering entrance barrier In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 1:10 AM, Murat Jumashev wrote: > Hi, > My name is Murat, I am from Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic (Central Asia). > First off let me apologize if I chose a wrong mailing list (please, kindly > point me a right mailing list to go). > > I am new to programming and I started from Python because it's very smooth > and readable lang. But it would not be easy for me to start learning > programming concepts without knowing basic English. > > What I want to ask is is it possible to create a (buffer/middleware) > keywords and functions convertor-from-pythonese-English-to-pythonese-Kyrgyz > (and vice-versa) so that students with poor/no English could start learning > to code in their native language(s)? i.e. print / ?????, if / ??????, else > / ???????, elif / ?? ??????? etc. > > I am impressed by the guy who have invented an arabic programming language > in order to overcome a (natural) language barrier: > http://killscreendaily.com/headlines/arabic-programming-language-middle-eastern-games/ > > > But I think it's more rational to write a native-to-pythonese-convertor > rather than inventing a new language from scratch. Can anyone tell me from > where to start? > It is certainly possible to change Python to use non-English keywords; see http://sourceforge.net/projects/chinesepython/ for an example. If you google for "chinese Python" you will find other links of interest that *might* lead you to other translations. If you can't find the information from the above link, someone on the python-dev mailing list might be able to help you as to which file needs to be modified. HOWEVER ... I don't believe that this will give you a translation of all the built-in functions and certainly not of any of the resources from the standard library. (I'm thinking that your students might want to use the Math module at some point). Andr? > > Thank you. > > _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list > Edu-sig at python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kirby.urner at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 23:01:58 2013 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:01:58 -0800 Subject: [Edu-sig] Python's keywords and functions convertor into native language for lowering entrance barrier In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Murat -- I presume you know that Python 3 source code may use any Unicode strings for names, including variables, functions, classes and so on. That leaves 33 keywords in English. >>> import keyword >>> keyword.kwlist You can write a script that simply catalogs synonyms for builtins. >>> ????? = print >>> ?????(10) 10 'print' is not a keyword in Python 3 so this assigning of a Kyrgyz name is possible. So if you had a script named kyrgyz.py, you could provide many synonyms for common functions such as dir, input, and even type names such as str, list, int, dict, float. However, what dir( ) returns will still contain English much of the time. The Standard Library is in English. This compromise solution that keeps the 33 English keywords at a minimum will help students learn to read more Python written by others. They won't need a "special Python" to interpret the code. The documentation, docstrings, variable, function, class names etc. can all be in Krgyz even now, with no further modifications. I work with a programmer in Indonesia who sometimes sends me Python that's 90% Indonesian. Here's a Wiki page on the topic of Python in non-Latin1-languages: http://wiki.python.org/moin/Languages Kirby Sample source (Kazakh): # -*- coding: utf-8 -*- # python 3.0/3.1 ????? = ['??????? ???', '??????? ???', '??????? ?????'] ?????_???? = ['??????', '???????'] for ?????x in ?????: for ?????_????x in ?????_????: print(?????x + ' ' + ?????_????x) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: