Re: [Edu-sig] (Fwd) Re: Some thoughts on RurPle / TurTle
On 27/06/06, Daniel Ajoy [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: PCRobots is a programming game written by P. D. Smith. It's sortof a tank game, the tanks have to fight each other. But you can'tcontrol your tank: It is controlled by a programm you have to write!The best program wins. Hello,I never tried it (yet) but Java people seem to have taken this idea too: Is it possible to learn inheritance, polymorphism, event handling, and inner classes, all while dodging bullets and executing precision attack maneuvers? A surprisingly addictive teaching-tool-turned-game-craze called Robocode is about to make this a reality for Java developers worldwide. Follow along as Sing Li disarms Robocode and starts you on your way to building your own customized lean, mean, fighting machine. http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-robocode/index.html http://robocode.sourceforge.net/francois PCRobots is very easy to handle: You can use most (DOS) compilersto create your robots. Robots can build teams, different maps (withobstacles) can be used, PCRobots has a graphical display and evensome sound. You can download the game from here:http://www.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de/~hbecker/prg/pcrob141.zip and read some of the details in the manual: PCROBOTS.DOCa text file.I did enjoy playing with it in 1998 when I taught a first yearprogramming course using PCRobots and Turbo C.Daniel--- End of forwarded message --- ___Edu-sig mailing listEdu-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
Re: [Edu-sig] (Fwd) Re: Some thoughts on RurPle / TurTle
Is it possible to learn inheritance, polymorphism, event handling, and inner classes, all while dodging bullets and executing precision attack maneuvers? A surprisingly addictive teaching-tool-turned-game-craze called Robocode is about to make this a reality for Java developers worldwide. Follow along as Sing Li disarms Robocode and starts you on your way to building your own customized lean, mean, fighting machine. http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-robocode/index.html http://robocode.sourceforge.net/ francois Yes, I'm pretty sure Robocode is one of those being field tested by Saturday Academy, although not in my classes so far (I checked it out on my own time though, eyeballed some of the Java). I'd be in the market for something similar, although I'd like a more introspective Turtle and more psychological challenges, ala the Zoombini series, Myst and Uru. I think what's happening is Python's edu-siggers are persuasively demonstrating that entire Logolike robotic play worlds are within reach of a solo coder. They work actually pretty much as advertised, come with documentation and demos, plus you get to study their inner workings and learn from a potential peer (an ideal combination). The overview experience one gets from rolling one's own, better qualifies one for project management positions when a larger team shows up, ready to recode it in OpenGL or whatever, with high def Turtles swimming amidst colorful corals, looking for Nemo, avoiding natural predators or whatever. In other words: as I learned long ago, the solo developer is quickly outclassed by what teamwork can do, when it comes to finalizing a commercial and/or educational product. We've discussed this several times on this list, in connection with game development. In my own career, I couldn't compete with the corporate spin-offs from the likes of my CORIS and CLAIR (inhouse cardiology apps). I've never been much of a game developer (but I did use PyGame to write myself an open source PowerPoint alternative). Some people misconstrue the open source revolution as a battle against large companies, but that's not the case. What IBM is doing for Linux is huge, and not because SCO thinks it owns the Unix brand name (what could be more irrelevant?). But on the other hand, there's no substitute for rolling one's own, and how one gets to be on these high powered teams, is by wrapping one's head around the problem, and publishing solutions, even if just in pseudo-code. In an already big project, building credibility may involve simply submitting small patches (you need overview for that too, where multiple dependencies are involved). But a lot of times, one just goes for green field development, per the recent Pata Pata example. Show what you're capable of, advertise your skills as a lone hacker, have emacs will code. People think: wow, what return could we get with more people like this on our payroll? A lot, I would expect. The Python community is overflowing with skilled people. And the meme pool is set to expand even more, as a new generation starts hacking on cell phones. Python: the full monty for mobile applications Victor Keegan Thursday June 22, 2006 http://technology.guardian.co.uk/opinion/story/0,,1802590,00.html (my thanks to Phillip for the heads up on this one). Kirby ___ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
[Edu-sig] PataPata 0.1.19 release Stigmergy
kirby urner wrote: In other words: as I learned long ago, the solo developer is quickly outclassed by what teamwork can do, when it comes to finalizing a commercial and/or educational product. We've discussed this several times on this list, in connection with game development. How often true... Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead But a lot of times, one just goes for green field development, per the recent Pata Pata example. Well, it's somewhat green, but as mentioned before, I'm building on the shoulders of giants. :-) I've been pretty quiet on edusig as I've been hard at work. :-) SourceForge is partially down right now so I can't make a proper release in response to your mention :-) but I just added PataPata_v119.zip (version 0.1.19) to SVN here: http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.cgi/patapata/trunk/releases/PataPata_v119.zip?view=log You can download from that web page. This version includes the current release of Gregor Lingl's xturtle library, wrapped as a Morph. (I modified the library slightly to work with Python 2.3). To run the demo (after unzipping the file) use: python PataPata.py It even has some PythonCard compatibility. It can read PythonCard resource files and build GUIs for them -- if the widgets are from the limited set it supports (Button, CheckBox, TextField, TextArea, Menus, and a few others). You still have to link in the code by hand though. I converted one example -- the conversions sample which converts temperatures, currencies, and Morse code. I also converted the menu builder tool GUI but it has no functionality yet. (Limited) PythonCard compatibility motivated several major improvements in the system (including naming morphs and supporting menus and a visible flag). There is also one example using the approach Ian Bicking outlined previously here of using metaclasses to read in prototypes defined using class. Also included is an example of how it works just using regular python code to construct them, so one can compare the two. It still uses the old approach for writing as I explore the new (for me) idea. There is also a webcast Francois Schnell made of PataPata on ShowMeDo: http://showmedo.com/videos/video?name=patapata_tkinter1_fSchnell So, see, some teamwork going on, though of an artifact mediated kind. I think of that as a form of Stigmergy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigmergic From there: Stigmergy is a method of communication in emergent systems in which the individual parts of the system communicate with one another by modifying their local environment. --Paul Fernhout ___ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
Re: [Edu-sig] PataPata 0.1.19 release Stigmergy
On 6/28/06, Paul D. Fernhout [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead Or committed company employees, or crew members, or television screen writers... it has no functionality yet. (Limited) PythonCard compatibility motivated several major improvements in the system (including naming morphs and supporting menus and a visible flag). I wonder if you've contacted Kevin Altis, the PythonCard developer I know best. Robin Dunn, author of wxPython is also local (we've met many times). I saw the new wx book at Powell's Technical, and almost bought it (I'm waiting for a bigger book budget to materialize, so I might expand my library). So, see, some teamwork going on, though of an artifact mediated kind. I think of that as a form of Stigmergy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigmergic Wow, I'd never have guessed. Same root as stigmata, no? Maybe not. From there: Stigmergy is a method of communication in emergent systems in which the individual parts of the system communicate with one another by modifying their local environment. --Paul Fernhout So like when I mow my lawn in a certain pattern, signalling a satellite, or when ETs use a crop circle to phone home, right? Science fiction examples of stigging out (slang for exercising stigmergic abilities). Kirby ___ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
