This tagline gives the plot: """ So right off the bat, Gnu Math is in turmoil. Are we trying to visit the tunnels under Disney World, as I contend, or are we keeping them blissfully in a bubble, making them think the whole world is as squeaky clean as Squeak? """
That's from the Math Forum this morning. http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=1401016 How much of the gnarly underbelly of geek culture are we wanting to teach, and at what level? Jerritt plunged right in with tcp/ip at West Precinct that time, and I'm thinking that's probably as good a place to start as any. Motherboard internals can wait. So I posted about tcp/ip in my blog yesterday, giving a flavor. I'm saying Gnu Math should not avoid the low level. Consistently and consequently, I advocate diving into C after Python along a strong CS track, to understand how CPython is implemented under the hood -- as well as how to extend it. Then maybe we'll resurface in Java and/or C# over bridges in the corresponding Python implementations (Jython and/or IronPython). It's not like we have to go over every built-in or library module at the same level of detail every time. But hey, now you've got the hang of C, and the way it thinks about memory (addresses, pointers). That'll help you solve a lot of puzzles, at least through some career doors. And no, I'm not forgetting about C++ (the basis of wx and many other extensions). Some will go in reverse (it's a network, not just a sequence): e.g. drill down starting in IronPython, and get back to C via the bytecodes-on-a-VM. In Mono (an implementation of a shared ANSI/ISO/ECMA type standard), the target bytecodes are prespecified, and provide a shared platform for many languages. Guido invented his own bytecodes for CPython, a unilanguage VM, when the whole idea of a VM was still quite new, and an advance over the early "interpreter" idea -- like what bash does. BTW how're things coming with Parrot? I'm soo out of date. Anyway, I'm for using Python to awaken self-selecting "users" out of a blissful ignorance (however comfortable) and start getting them oriented to the plumbing that makes it all work. Via Python, you have the opportunity to move from "user" to "hacker" perhaps by way of "gnubee" (as in "student of gnu math"). In the gnu world, we don't hide the fact that the low level stuff gets ugly and that ugly hacks exist. Engineering is just like that, and there's no shame in admitting it, showing it, and inviting fresh solutions. There's also just a lot of ancient working machinery, not ugly per se, but still rather complicated and ornate. We want to show that off too. Kirby _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig