Re: [Edu-sig] mentions of Py on Math Forum....
What kind of money are you looking for to replace your laptop? Laura ___ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
Re: [Edu-sig] mentions of Py on Math Forum....
On Sat, Jun 6, 2009 at 12:14 AM, Laura Creightonl...@openend.se wrote: What kind of money are you looking for to replace your laptop? Laura That's a kind question Laura, OK asking the list. ;) It's a relief to have so much in the way of pictures and source code etc. already uploaded, so its really a matter of time and priorities, with money simply a signal to slice in the time. I don't want to pay myself to fiddle with that hard drive, maybe by putting it in some identical laptop off eBay (it might boot perfectly -- or I could slave it in another system, mount it as a peripheral), because I'm already trying to do too much. It'd probably be a good sign though, that I was getting the time. My business associates are also overworked, would love RR but don't get any. From what I can tell, it has to do with a rotten economy, which won't get any better at all with all those people running around in the desert thinking they're helping somebody, wasting their lives, but that's difficult to control from Portland, easier to drink coffee and celebrate small victories when I can (special wine in the cooler). Making good progress with digital mathematics track, getting lots of help on that, but its volunteers (Lindsey, Chris, many others). No one has a budget for anything really important and relevant. That's what rotten economy means. Still getting fun movies though, fantasy worlds always in relative abundance. Did you see that funny xkcd about 'Snakes on a Plane 2'? http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2009/05/stupid-summer-movie.html Kirby ___ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
[Edu-sig] mentions of Py on Math Forum....
Brief mention of Python on Math Forum this morning, in same sentence as Mathematica, though I don't see them as filling the same market niche (partially overlapping though, yes): http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=1949352tstart=0 This guy Gary at work one time wanted my analysis of Mathematica vs. Python in light of their MUMPS thing crapping out, and I was saying how the former is more for front end analysis and publishing, whereas Python likes to talk directly to SQL engines (maybe through ORM), which isn't Mathematica's forte. However, in saying this, I don't mean to slight Python's libraries especially geared for front end publishing work, like this professional color-coding package seems pretty high end for open source (not my field though, as I'm more back office silo than marketing, unless you count blogging as marketing (true in some cases)). http://code.google.com/p/python-colormath/ Regarding that digital math track I was talking about, there's a GIS/GPS component in wanting to help students keep track of environmental factors, such as community garden locations, big in Portland these days, and feeding the move to bring back Home Economics as a high school subject, lots of local politics I won't bore you with (it's not as retro as it sounds, as we're looking at cooking show as a TV production experience, not just breaking eggs and learning weights and measures). I haven't tried 3.1 yet, have been using dictionary versus list to harp on the cardinality vs. ordinality distinction (per Midhat Gazale), understand there's a new kind of dictionary that has ordinal properties. I mention that here: http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=1949077tstart=0 Reports from the field? 3.1 lore anyone? My Ubuntu laptop died is the thing, leaving me somewhat demoralized not to mention semi-paralyzed, as a curriculum writer. But I'm compensating, using my left foot (WinXP box in a dusty back office). Someday, there'll be a budget for a replacement (I also have the XO, so could do it in Pippy maybe). Chauffeur duty calls, not to the airport this time... Kirby OCN/4D ___ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
Re: [Edu-sig] mentions of Py on Math Forum....
kirby urner wrote: I haven't tried 3.1 yet, have been using dictionary versus list to harp on the cardinality vs. ordinality distinction (per Midhat Gazale), understand there's a new kind of dictionary that has ordinal properties You really should. The io module went to C, so simple file I/O is substantially faster. It had been slowed down to make sure the semantics were all correct for where the Unicode and where the bytes should be. There will be no fixes to the 3.0 line, 3.1 is the ongoing Python 3.* version (3.1 was a quick follow-on to address issues discovered in the 3.0 release (think if 3.0 as a Python 3000 alpha or beta). --Scott David Daniels scott.dani...@acm.org ___ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
Re: [Edu-sig] mentions of Py on Math Forum....
OK, took your advice. Turns out I was thinking of OrdererdDict added to collections in 2.7 (?), now used more routinely for some return types. An ordered dictionary doesn't support indexing but does remember the order in which items were inserted, is prepared to divulge such items in either LIFO or FIFO depending on popitems last parameter). Kwel. Such a rich set of data structures, hard to see why any CS0/CS1 would start with say Java, but then it's not either/or. As mentioned, my Princeton intro to computer programming was smorgasbord/sampler (10 languages in 10 weeks or something like that, not that you learn any really well, although I got pretty good at APL on my own time). But if you're going to pick just one for a long slog, why not Python? The high schools are doing it (the good ones), why not colleges too? Kirby On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 2:00 PM, Scott David Danielsscott.dani...@acm.org wrote: kirby urner wrote: I haven't tried 3.1 yet, have been using dictionary versus list to harp on the cardinality vs. ordinality distinction (per Midhat Gazale), understand there's a new kind of dictionary that has ordinal properties You really should. The io module went to C, so simple file I/O is substantially faster. It had been slowed down to make sure the semantics were all correct for where the Unicode and where the bytes should be. There will be no fixes to the 3.0 line, 3.1 is the ongoing Python 3.* version (3.1 was a quick follow-on to address issues discovered in the 3.0 release (think if 3.0 as a Python 3000 alpha or beta). --Scott David Daniels scott.dani...@acm.org ___ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig ___ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
