Typed Python?

[Arthur]

On 06 Jul 2004 22:47:55 +0300, Ville Vainio <ville at spammers.com>
wrote:

>"Real" work is admittedly a bit careless choice of words. Non-academic
>work is often more concerned with delivering stuff, while academic
>work is more exploratory in nature (and often without the obligation
>to deliver anything but research papers). Scheme/Lisp like languages
>are undoubtedly better for exploratory work, because of the "plastic"
>nature of the languages themselves (macros help here).

What I don't hear, curiously,  in the discriptions of programming
languages significance in academia is its current role and potential
role in teaching (and learning).

The current catch phrase, I think, is "activity based learning" or
some such.  There have been recurring headlines here in the US over
the last few weeks about the crisis in science education.  Integrating
programming activities into science education, I think, has the
potential to improve the situation there considerably.

Numpy came up somewhere in this thread. It happen to have been an
effective tutor in a range of mathematical concepts, for me.

In fact, for someone like myself, the core interest has never be in
programming.  It was a correct assessment that some understanding of
programming would open up learning opportunities otherwise closed, in
the areas where  my core interests happen to lie.

And perhaps that is what distinguishes  much of "academic" computing
from "professional" computing.  The professional programmer tends to
be a hired gunslinger, with no necessary compelling interest in the
underlying problem being explored or solved. In academic computing, it
is more likely the underlying problem that is the heart of the matter
to whoever it is that happens to be slinging the code.

Which is the higher level acitivity?

Well I certainly wouldn't look down my nose at Scheme even if it were
admitted it best uses were academic.

But more interesting to me is Python as an academic language. Which it
most certainly is, and I think will continue to be, Proudly, I would
think, for those who have developed and supported it.

Art