> I said on this list about two or three years ago - > Python (and all "fringe" languages) need to become > like VB in terms of the IDE - if it doesn't it simply > will not be taken up in schools. >
Although I think this is one approach, I do not buy that it's the only option. VPython is far easier to use API-wise, than PyGame, plus provides a spatial geometry experience (difficult in PyGame). POV-Ray is another way to go (I've used both). Basically, math class is already boring (to many), and required, and becomes more relevant and exciting as computer technology is phased in -- with an intelligently designed, Python-aware curriculum. The Shuttleworth approach in other words. Showcasing a more meaningful math, richer in spatial geometry, more invested in programming right from the start, is, I think, a far more effective recruiting vehicle than trying to compete with some elective "computer programming" option focusing on cobbling together phony business apps in a VB-like setting (not that I have anything against Python being added to a Visual Studio type IDE -- a possible outcome for IronPython I should think). I speak from experience here. Saturday Academy, for which I teach, has a strong steady enrollment, has been going for 23 years. The high tech industries of Silicon Valley are behind it. We use SA to showcase how computers *could* be phased in to regular schooling. My students love it, and their parents do to. *Finally* something technical and difficult that excites a student -- something very hard to achieve in ordinary math class. Granted, my students are already somewhat self selected. But if we disappointed them, they wouldn't keep coming back. Also: check out Gamemaker for another useful approach. SA basis some of its more popular offerings on that tool (the free version is sufficiently powerful -- kids can buy a personal copy of the more feature-rich one, if they want to explore outside of class). Kirby _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
