[Tutor] Recommended Resurce or strategy for beginning students
Hi All, In our growing school we're teaching Python programming for the first time as an elective subject with Year 9 and 10 students. (Had a dabble at this last year with 3 students in Year 11) I'm wondering what specific resource or stategy people would recommend for absolute beginners? ie. a course or program, book,...set of activities to follow that strategically introduces and develops key skills. At this age level I don't think we need to be achieving 'rocket science'..but rather giving the students a good solid introduction. Some of the leadership wanted me to use this programming in combination with building robots...I've even wondered whether this is trying to achieve too many things...and we're better off focused on programming itself... but am open to this idea too... I've had a play with using the excellent PySimpleGUI...which is an excellent resource for building a GUI...but I've realised before doing too much of this we might need to get a grip on core fundamentals The challenge is trying to find a way to making this 'fun' for students whilst also having them genuinely learn rather than just 'copying pasting' code...achieving something that looks good...but not really understanding what they are doing. So far my strategy will be: 1.) Establish some core basics(utlising some form of 'course',,,which goes through basics of syntax..variables...loops etc. utilising just raw code...(probably a simple 'Adventure Game') 2.) Build some simple programs using PySimple GUi..eg. Some quiz games etc. (there are some great examples on Github by another teacher and also the author Mike of PySimpleGUI. 3.) Possibly explore robotics. Can anyone make any recommendations on either resources or teaching/learning strategy/curriculum. Thank you, Matt Matthew Polack | Teacher [image: Emailbanner3.png] Trinity Drive | PO Box 822 Horsham Victoria 3402 p. 03 5382 2529 m. 0402456854 e. matthew.pol...@htlc.vic.edu.au w. www.htlc.vic.edu.au -- **Disclaimer: *Whilst every attempt has been made to ensure that material contained in this email is free from computer viruses or other defects, the attached files are provided, and may only be used, on the basis that the user assumes all responsibility for use of the material transmitted. This email is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above and may contain information that is confidential and privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please note that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify us immediately by return email or telephone +61 3 5382 2529** and destroy the original message.* ___ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
[Tutor] exporting lists into CSV issue.
All,
Thanks in advance for any assistance. This is a follow up msg from my iTunes
import issue with the xml. I have managed to successfully import the data
from the XML with Peter's and Alan's help. I have moved the information into
a list and only extracting the data I want. Now I am trying to export to a
CSV file. There is no syntax or logical errors I can see. The information is
being exported to the CSV. But when I bring it into Excel. I am getting a
blank row between each row. The exported data looks like this:
Name,Artist,Kind,Total Time,Year,Date Modified,Date Added,Bit Rate,Sample
Rate,Comments,Location "In Her Sights: A Montgomery Justice Novel, Book 1
(Unabridged)",Robin Perini,Audible file,25574318,2012,2015-12-12
23:48:18,2015-12-12 23:48:20,64,22050,"Jasmine 'Jazz' Parker, Jefferson
County SWAT's only female sniper, can thread the eye of a needle with a
bullet. But she carries with her a secret from her
past","file:///Volumes/Itunes/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Audiobooks/Robin%20P
erini/In%20Her%20Sights_%20A%20Montgomery%20Justice%20Novel,%20Book%201%20(U
nabridged).aax" "Behind the Lies: A Montgomery Justice Novel, Book 2
(Unabridged)",Robin Perini,Audible file,35142797,2013,2015-12-12
23:53:33,2015-12-12 23:53:33,64,22050,"Of the six Montgomery brothers, Zach
has always walked on the wild side. He rocketed to fame playing a hero in a
movie, but off screen he's living in the shadows. Zach's dark secret: He
leads a double life as a CIA
operative",file:///Volumes/Itunes/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Audiobooks/Robin
%20Perini/Behind%20the%20Lies_%20A%20Montgomery%20Justice%20Novel,%20Book%20
2%20(Unabridged).aax
I would have expected a new line between each book, but there is a space.
The code looks like this:
import plistlib, pprint, csv
with open("library.xml", "rb") as f:
data = plistlib.load(f)
books =[['Name', 'Artist', 'Kind', 'Total Time', 'Year', 'Date Modified',
'Date Added', 'Bit Rate', 'Sample Rate', 'Comments', 'Location']]
for book in list(data['Tracks'].values()):
tmp = []
if not 'Audible file' in book['Kind']:
break # skip book
for key in books[0]:
if key in book:
tmp.append(book[key])
else:
tmp.append("")
books.append(tmp)
with open ('books-list.csv', 'w') as wf:
writer = csv.writer(wf)
writer.writerows(books)
wf.close()
When I debug the above. The output of books look fine to me. For example:
(Pdb)
['Name', 'Artist', 'Kind', 'Total Time', 'Year', 'Date Modified', 'Date
Added', 'Bit Rate', 'Sample Rate', 'Comments', '
Location']
(Pdb)
(Pdb) books[0]
]
0
['In Her Sights: A Montgomery Justice Novel, Book 1 (Unabridged)', 'Robin
Perini', 'Audible file', 25574318, 2012, datet
ime.datetime(2015, 12, 12, 23, 48, 18), datetime.datetime(2015, 12, 12, 23,
48, 20), 64, 22050, "Jasmine 'Jazz' Parker,
Jefferson County SWAT's only female sniper, can thread the eye of a needle
with a bullet. But she carries with her a sec
ret from her past",
'file:///Volumes/Itunes/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Audiobooks/Robin%20Perini/In%2
0Her%20Sights_%20A%2
0Montgomery%20Justice%20Novel,%20Book%201%20(Unabridged).aax']
(Pdb)
(Pdb) books[1]
]
1
['Behind the Lies: A Montgomery Justice Novel, Book 2 (Unabridged)', 'Robin
Perini', 'Audible file', 35142797, 2013, dat
etime.datetime(2015, 12, 12, 23, 53, 33), datetime.datetime(2015, 12, 12,
23, 53, 33), 64, 22050, 'Of the six Montgomery
brothers, Zach has always walked on the wild side. He rocketed to fame
playing a hero in a movie, but off screen he's l
iving in the shadows. Zach's dark secret: He leads a double life as a CIA
operative', 'file:///Volumes/Itunes/iTunes
/iTunes%20Media/Audiobooks/Robin%20Perini/Behind%20the%20Lies_%20A%20Montgom
ery%20Justice%20Novel,%20Book%202%20(Unabrid
ged).aax']
(Pdb)
Any ideas why this could be occurring?
Regards
Sean
___
Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
Re: [Tutor] Recommended Resurce or strategy for beginning students
On 22/01/2019 06:57, Matthew Polack wrote: > In our growing school we're teaching Python programming for the first time > as an elective subject with Year 9 and 10 students. (Had a dabble at this > last year with 3 students in Year 11) > > I'm wondering what specific resource or stategy people would recommend for > absolute beginners? There is a beginners page on the Python web site for non programmers. It lists many tutorials that you could consider. Also there used to be an Education Special Interest Group (edu-sig) populated with teachers using Python in schools. I don't know if it is still active but you could try asking there. I do know that at least two schools have used my tutorial(see .sig). One of them for a class of 14 year olds (I have no idea what age range your year 9/10 students are). It is intended to teach good programming theory as well as practice. Another more academic tutorial is Allan Downey's "Think Python" site. It is slightly deeper than mine but covers less breadth. > Some of the leadership wanted me to use this programming in combination > with building robots...I've even wondered whether this is trying to achieve > too many things...and we're better off focused on programming itself... but > am open to this idea too... In the UK many schools use the RaspberryPi project to teach robots to kids as part of their Technology courses. The programming is picked up by osmosis on an as-needed basis. The upside is that it's a lot of fun and gets kids used to the concepts of hardware and software working in unison. The downside is that they learn a lot of bad coding habits and don't understand the theoretical underpinnings of either the hardware or software. But as a way to get them hooked it works well . > I've had a play with using the excellent PySimpleGUI...which is an > excellent resource for building a GUI...but I've realised before doing too > much of this we might need to get a grip on core fundamentals The turtle module is good too. Turtle graphics were invented explicitly to teach kids programming (using the LOGO programming language). They are even better when combined with a real robot turtle, but I'm not sure how you would do that using Python. There may be an off the shelf option if you Google it... > 1.) Establish some core basics(utlising some form of 'course',,,which goes > through basics of syntax..variables...loops etc. utilising just raw > code...(probably a simple 'Adventure Game') Don't underestimate the power of CLI when starting out. Classic games like oxo, hangman and Conway's life are challenging for beginners and easy to do on a terminal. (They are also great for demonstrating how good data structure design can radically simplify complex code.) Adventure games like the Colossal Cave are obviously easy on a CLI too. > 2.) Build some simple programs using PySimple GUi..eg. Some quiz games etc. > (there are some great examples on Github by another teacher and also the > author Mike of PySimpleGUI. Consider including basic GUIs too. They are the simplest way to get them into event driven thinking and for some types of programming are easier to write than CLI apps. The only snag with Python is the lack of a GUI builder which forces the kids to write a lots of boring boiler plate code... > 3.) Possibly explore robotics. Or web programming maybe? There are lots of easy Web frameworks for Python and since, for most kids today, computing *is* the web it might be worthwhile. The downside is it introduces a lot of new concepts - HTML, networks etc Overall it sounds good. -- Alan G Author of the Learn to Program web site http://www.alan-g.me.uk/ http://www.amazon.com/author/alan_gauld Follow my photo-blog on Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alangauldphotos ___ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
Re: [Tutor] exporting lists into CSV issue.
On 22/01/2019 09:25, mhysnm1...@gmail.com wrote:
> being exported to the CSV. But when I bring it into Excel. I am getting a
> blank row between each row. The exported data looks like this:
I can't see anything obvious.
> import plistlib, pprint, csv
>
> with open("library.xml", "rb") as f:
> data = plistlib.load(f)
>
> books =[['Name', 'Artist', 'Kind', 'Total Time', 'Year', 'Date Modified',
> 'Date Added', 'Bit Rate', 'Sample Rate', 'Comments', 'Location']]
>
> for book in list(data['Tracks'].values()):
You don't need to convert to list.
You can just iterate over the values().
I don't think that should add any newlines but it
might be worth removing the list to see.
>
> tmp = []
> if not 'Audible file' in book['Kind']:
> break # skip book
> for key in books[0]:
> if key in book:
> tmp.append(book[key])
> else:
> tmp.append("")
> books.append(tmp
>
> with open ('books-list.csv', 'w') as wf:
> writer = csv.writer(wf)
> writer.writerows(books)
You could try writing(and printing) the rows individually:
for row in books:
# print(row) # debugging only
writer.writerow(row)
To see if it is writerows() that is adding the spurious lines.
If that's the case there may be a parameter to change
or suppress the separator.
It might also be easier to use the csv.dictwriter
since your data appears to be in the form of a dict
to start with. Although I'm not sure how dictwriter
copes with missing fields.
> wf.close()
Don't use close() if you are using "with open..."
Closing is done automatically. It's one of the
advantages of the 'with' style.
hth
--
--
Alan G
Author of the Learn to Program web site
http://www.alan-g.me.uk/
http://www.amazon.com/author/alan_gauld
Follow my photo-blog on Flickr at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alangauldphotos
___
Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
Re: [Tutor] exporting lists into CSV issue.
mhysnm1...@gmail.com wrote:
> Now I am
> trying to export to a CSV file. There is no syntax or logical errors I can
> see. The information is being exported to the CSV. But when I bring it
> into Excel. I am getting a blank row between each row.
> with open ('books-list.csv', 'w') as wf:
Try switching off newline conversion:
with open('books-list.csv', 'w', newline="") as wf:
...
The csv.writer() delimits records with "\r\n", and on Windows open()
converts "\n" to "\r\n" by default. Therefore you probably (no Window handy
to to confirm) end up with "\r\r\n" between the rows.
See also .
> writer = csv.writer(wf)
> writer.writerows(books)
At this point the file is already closed by the context manager, no need for
an extra
> wf.close()
___
Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
Re: [Tutor] exporting lists into CSV issue.
All,
I have addressed the issue. When I open the file, I am using newline='' as
one of the parameters.
with open ('books-list.csv', 'w', newline='', encode='utf-8') as wf:
I added the UTF-8 as I discovered after sending my original email I was not
importing all the books. I discovered I was getting an utf-8 error due to
some of the content. Now I have all my books in a spreadsheet. Stage 2, is
to cross reference all this information against my audible library which I
will have to extract.
All this is to learn the different methods of extracting data.
From: mhysnm1...@gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, 22 January 2019 8:26 PM
To: tutor@python.org
Subject: exporting lists into CSV issue.
All,
Thanks in advance for any assistance. This is a follow up msg from my iTunes
import issue with the xml. I have managed to successfully import the data
from the XML with Peter's and Alan's help. I have moved the information into
a list and only extracting the data I want. Now I am trying to export to a
CSV file. There is no syntax or logical errors I can see. The information is
being exported to the CSV. But when I bring it into Excel. I am getting a
blank row between each row. The exported data looks like this:
Name,Artist,Kind,Total Time,Year,Date Modified,Date Added,Bit Rate,Sample
Rate,Comments,Location "In Her Sights: A Montgomery Justice Novel, Book 1
(Unabridged)",Robin Perini,Audible file,25574318,2012,2015-12-12
23:48:18,2015-12-12 23:48:20,64,22050,"Jasmine 'Jazz' Parker, Jefferson
County SWAT's only female sniper, can thread the eye of a needle with a
bullet. But she carries with her a secret from her
past","file:///Volumes/Itunes/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Audiobooks/Robin%20P
erini/In%20Her%20Sights_%20A%20Montgomery%20Justice%20Novel,%20Book%201%20(U
nabridged).aax" "Behind the Lies: A Montgomery Justice Novel, Book 2
(Unabridged)",Robin Perini,Audible file,35142797,2013,2015-12-12
23:53:33,2015-12-12 23:53:33,64,22050,"Of the six Montgomery brothers, Zach
has always walked on the wild side. He rocketed to fame playing a hero in a
movie, but off screen he's living in the shadows. Zach's dark secret: He
leads a double life as a CIA
operative",file:///Volumes/Itunes/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Audiobooks/Robin
%20Perini/Behind%20the%20Lies_%20A%20Montgomery%20Justice%20Novel,%20Book%20
2%20(Unabridged).aax
I would have expected a new line between each book, but there is a space.
The code looks like this:
import plistlib, pprint, csv
with open("library.xml", "rb") as f:
data = plistlib.load(f)
books =[['Name', 'Artist', 'Kind', 'Total Time', 'Year', 'Date Modified',
'Date Added', 'Bit Rate', 'Sample Rate', 'Comments', 'Location']]
for book in list(data['Tracks'].values()):
tmp = []
if not 'Audible file' in book['Kind']:
break # skip book
for key in books[0]:
if key in book:
tmp.append(book[key])
else:
tmp.append("")
books.append(tmp)
with open ('books-list.csv', 'w') as wf:
writer = csv.writer(wf)
writer.writerows(books)
wf.close()
When I debug the above. The output of books look fine to me. For example:
(Pdb)
['Name', 'Artist', 'Kind', 'Total Time', 'Year', 'Date Modified', 'Date
Added', 'Bit Rate', 'Sample Rate', 'Comments', '
Location']
(Pdb)
(Pdb) books[0]
]
0
['In Her Sights: A Montgomery Justice Novel, Book 1 (Unabridged)', 'Robin
Perini', 'Audible file', 25574318, 2012, datet
ime.datetime(2015, 12, 12, 23, 48, 18), datetime.datetime(2015, 12, 12, 23,
48, 20), 64, 22050, "Jasmine 'Jazz' Parker,
Jefferson County SWAT's only female sniper, can thread the eye of a needle
with a bullet. But she carries with her a sec
ret from her past",
'file:///Volumes/Itunes/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Audiobooks/Robin%20Perini/In%2
0Her%20Sights_%20A%2
0Montgomery%20Justice%20Novel,%20Book%201%20(Unabridged).aax']
(Pdb)
(Pdb) books[1]
]
1
['Behind the Lies: A Montgomery Justice Novel, Book 2 (Unabridged)', 'Robin
Perini', 'Audible file', 35142797, 2013, dat
etime.datetime(2015, 12, 12, 23, 53, 33), datetime.datetime(2015, 12, 12,
23, 53, 33), 64, 22050, 'Of the six Montgomery
brothers, Zach has always walked on the wild side. He rocketed to fame
playing a hero in a movie, but off screen he's l
iving in the shadows. Zach's dark secret: He leads a double life as a CIA
operative', 'file:///Volumes/Itunes/iTunes
/iTunes%20Media/Audiobooks/Robin%20Perini/Behind%20the%20Lies_%20A%20Montgom
ery%20Justice%20Novel,%20Book%202%20(Unabrid
ged).aax']
(Pdb)
Any ideas why this could be occurring?
Regards
Sean
___
Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
Re: [Tutor] Recommended Resurce or strategy for beginning students
I like the idea of starting out right away on a GUI. I know this is completely
backwards to what would normally be taught, but hear me out. Kids today are
used to GUI interfaces. They're on their phones, their computers, their TV
sets.
Why not teach kids to output to a window instead of a command line? What if
it's just was easy, or easier, to work with a GUI as it is the command line?
To output to the command line in standard Python:
print('my string', variable1, variable2)
To output the same information to a window using PySimpleGUI:
Popup('my string', variable1, variable2)
Or, you can "print" to a debug window if that's your thing.
Print('takes the same parameters as print')
If the ultimate goal is to teach kids about how to design a GUI window, how to
lay out a GUI using good user interface design principals, then it would be
nice to get the GUI coding out of the way and let the focus instead be on the
GUI itself. This is when having a drag-and-drop Designer Tool is handy. If
not, then the next best thing is a simple programming interface.
PySimpleGUI was designed so that the code visually matches the window layout.
It's capable of duplicating pretty much any layout and widget combination that
you can create coding directly to tkinter's (or Qt's or WxPython's) interfaces.
PySimpleGUI simply creates and executes the "boilerplate" code that is often
brought up when GUIs are discussed.
A goal was to remove all of the boilerplate code and provide a programmer with
a simple, friendly and flexible set of APIs. You write a single line of code
per row of widgets in your window plus a 1/2 dozen lines to implement the event
loop.
I don't see the harm in approaching the problem from a different direction. It
could be wildly successful. Or... not... The worst that can happen is you
screw up a classroom full of future programmers, creating a warped vision that
GUIs can be fun and easy.
@mike
-Original Message-
From: Matthew Polack
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2019 1:58 AM
To: tutor@python.org
Subject: [Tutor] Recommended Resurce or strategy for beginning students
Hi All,
In our growing school we're teaching Python programming for the first time as
an elective subject with Year 9 and 10 students. (Had a dabble at this last
year with 3 students in Year 11)
I'm wondering what specific resource or stategy people would recommend for
absolute beginners?
ie. a course or program, book,...set of activities to follow that strategically
introduces and develops key skills.
At this age level I don't think we need to be achieving 'rocket science'..but
rather giving the students a good solid introduction.
Some of the leadership wanted me to use this programming in combination with
building robots...I've even wondered whether this is trying to achieve too many
things...and we're better off focused on programming itself... but am open to
this idea too...
I've had a play with using the excellent PySimpleGUI...which is an excellent
resource for building a GUI...but I've realised before doing too much of this
we might need to get a grip on core fundamentals
The challenge is trying to find a way to making this 'fun' for students whilst
also having them genuinely learn rather than just 'copying pasting'
code...achieving something that looks good...but not really understanding what
they are doing.
So far my strategy will be:
1.) Establish some core basics(utlising some form of 'course',,,which goes
through basics of syntax..variables...loops etc. utilising just raw
code...(probably a simple 'Adventure Game')
2.) Build some simple programs using PySimple GUi..eg. Some quiz games etc.
(there are some great examples on Github by another teacher and also the author
Mike of PySimpleGUI.
3.) Possibly explore robotics.
Can anyone make any recommendations on either resources or teaching/learning
strategy/curriculum.
Thank you,
Matt
Matthew Polack | Teacher
[image: Emailbanner3.png]
Trinity Drive | PO Box 822
Horsham Victoria 3402
p. 03 5382 2529 m. 0402456854
e. matthew.pol...@htlc.vic.edu.au
w. www.htlc.vic.edu.au
--
**Disclaimer: *Whilst every attempt has been made to ensure that material
contained in this email is free from computer viruses or other defects, the
attached files are provided, and may only be used, on the basis that the user
assumes all responsibility for use of the material transmitted. This email is
intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above and may
contain information that is confidential and privileged. If you are not the
intended recipient, please note that any dissemination, distribution or copying
of this email is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error,
please notify us immediately by return email or telephone +61 3 5382 2529** and
destroy the original message.*
___
Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org
To unsubscribe or chang
[Tutor] Recommended Resurce or strategy for beginning students, (Matthew Polack)
3. Recommended Resurce or strategy for beginning students (Matthew Polack) Matt, I don't have any specific recommendations other than to make sure you were aware of a podcast I recently stumbled across called Teaching Python by Sean Tibor and Kelly Paredes. I've only listened to one episode but it sounds as though she's a teacher and he's a programmer and they're working together to do something similar to what you're taking on. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/teaching-python/id1445806053?mt=2 Best of luck, Scott ___ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
