[Edu-sig] Editors/IDEs for teaching

[Nicholas H.Tollervey]

Thank you for your kind words! :-)

Mu 1.0.final should be out in about a fortnight.

N.

On 03/07/18 16:29, Carl Karsten wrote:
>> Mu bundles Python 3...
> 
> I did not know that, and now I love it even more.
> 
> Thank you!!!
> 
> I do "intro to Python" workshops, and I *hate* the "setup environment"
> step; it chews up so much limited precious time.
> 
> I've used mu for about 30 min about a month ago when I attended a 1
> hour conference session:
> By Kattni Rembor
> CircuitPython is Python that runs on microcontrollers...
> 
> Let me start a new thread about it happening again at PyOhio.
> 
> back to mu - Yes, it is now my pick for editor to install and use.
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Jul 3, 2018 at 10:11 AM, Nicholas H.Tollervey <ntoll at ntoll.org> wrote:
>> On 03/07/18 16:04, Andre Roberge wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> I do agree with what you write ... but, at the same time, I've been
>>> struggling to define appropriate categories. Some software can be designed
>>> for use by (young) adult beginners but not for young children. (For example:
>>> anything that will rely heavily on word menus ... say, like Microsoft Word.)
>>> I'm using the term hobbyists for this category. Other software can be
>>> designed to be used by young children.  I did not see Mu being designed to
>>> be used in a CS 101 type of course.  Perhaps I am wrong and should simply
>>> think of the target audience as "everyone" like I did for IDLE.... ?
>>
>>
>> Got it in one! :-)
>>
>> Mu is for *anyone* who is a beginner programmer, no matter their age or
>> background.
>>
>> Mu is a *very small* code base (currently around 3.5kloc). However, the
>> installers for Windows and OSX weigh in at around 100mb. Why? Because Mu
>> bundles Python 3, Qt, Tkinter, Matplotlib, Numpy, Jupyter, PyGame,
>> PyGameZero and a host of other things commonly used by those starting
>> computing classes.
>>
>> Why include all this stuff? Because (and I remember this from my university
>> days) just being able to set up a dev environment on your own computer is a
>> royal pain in the arse -- especially if you're a newbie. ;-) If the answer
>> is "just install Mu, 'cos it's easy" then beginner data scientists
>> immediately have a "first steps" IDE they can use to skill-up before they go
>> figure out how to "pip install jupyter" and point their browser to the right
>> place. ;-)
>>
>> Does this make sense?
>>
>>
>> N.
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