Python in "math through programming" curriculum

[Clifford J. Nelson]

Kirby Urner wrote:
> 
> "Clifford J. Nelson" <cnelson9 at gte.net> wrote:
> 
> >I don't think Python should be a standard at all, because of
> >my experience with it on the Mac. Keep the options open for
> >computer programming languages.
> >
> >Here are two:
> >
> >Clean at: http://www.cs.kun.nl/~clean/
> 
> I went to this website.  It doesn't work for the Mac at all --
> Windows only.  So what's your beef with Python on the Mac?
> At least it exists for the Mac.

That's why I don't attach ANY weight to what you write!
Clean used to be a "Mac first product", and Version 1.3.x
soon to be updated to Version 2.0 runs on the Mac. You would
know that it runs on the Mac if you could just read.

> Also:  "Allthough Clean is not easy to learn (it's very
> different from imperative languages, such as Pascal and C),
> once you can program in Clean, you can easily create games
> with the Clean Game Library."
> 
> Do you think this emphasis on game programming is better
> than my "math through programming" approach?  It seems to
> me that writing games is (a) a rather specialized goal
> (vs. learning generic math ideas) and (b) a domain in
> which it's difficult to compete with already-existing
> commercial products (i.e. if your goal is to become a
> game programmer, vs. competent in basic math, you have a
> long road ahead of you).
> 
[snip]
I take it personally when Bucky Fuller's Synergetics (see 1)
is made to seem like some far out religion, by you Kirby
Urner, or anyone else, or when computer programming in a
language (Python) that can't apparently help itself well
enough to use it to make a good interactive programming
environment for the Mac, is promoted over much easier
languages, like Clean (see 2) or Object Caml 3.0 (see 3) or
even the hard to learn J programming language (see 4).

All of those languages (including Python) are garbage
compared to Mathematica of course, because programming (OOP)
is all just really pattern matching and replacement (see 5),
but they're free and they work on both the Mac and Windows,
so they are worth looking at.

1) http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/synergetics.html
2) http://www.deene.ufu.br/clean/clean1.html
3) http://pauillac.inria.fr/caml/
4) http://www.jsoftware.com/
5) http://www.stephenwolfram.com/publications/talks/IMS/imstalk.html

> 
> My guess is you've done approximately zero using any of
> the languages under discussion (Python, Clean, Caml).  If
> I'm wrong, I hope you will show me otherwise.  I don't
> have a lot of time for completely uninformed discussion.
> 
> Kirby

You could inform yourself, if you could only read.

  Cliff Nelson