mental
measure of cost in uranium enrichment. Once you get the calculation worked
out, the plot is just a few more clicks.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OyKPyjo6k1ckZVwAh8sfkDEtB5W22VUriBaelK3LWY4/edit?usp=sharing
David MacQuigg, PhD
Engineering Editor, Citizendium
520-721-4583
On Thu,
in
covering all of human knowledge, we have changed our focus to a few areas where
we feel we have excellence. Kirby's article on Python is expected to be a
cornerstone for an entire "ecosystem" around Python.
https://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Python
David MacQuigg, PhD
Editor,
effort. The integration with C could also
be improved, for those applications where speed is important.
On Sat, Oct 28, 2017 at 3:15 PM, kirby urner <kirby.ur...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Sat, Oct 28, 2017 at 1:44 PM, David MacQuigg <macqu...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> &l
Great to see progress in adding CS to the curriculum. CodingBat look
vastly improved since I was last involved. It's predecessor, JavaBat, was
the inspiration for PyKata. PyKata would have been Codingbat plus the
ability for teachers to select their own exercises, or create their own, an
even
it.
David MacQuigg, PhD
On Wed, Mar 30, 2016 at 10:24 AM, Peter Farrell <funcalcu...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hello to the Group!
>
> I'm redesigning my math-using-Python-programming course and need your
> input.
>
> I'd like to have the participants enter their cod
ture/calling_methods.py
I like Bruce Eckel's sidestep on this issue.
http://www2.engr.arizona.edu/~edatools/ece175/Lecture/QnA.txt
"In the end, it isn't that important. What is important is that you
understand that passing a reference allows the caller's object to be changed
unexpectedly."
Da
I just got a notice from Google that PyKata and a few other programs I
developed using the Google App Engine, will no longer work unless I migrate
these applications to their new High Replication Datastore. I took a quick
look at that process, but it has been too many years, and I am too busy
of my function calls seems to be ruining the potential for
creating a Mandelbrot movie.
David MacQuigg, Business Manager
Benson Animal Hospital
purl.net/macquigg
___
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On Sun, Mar 22, 2015 at 7:23 PM, David Handy da...@handysoftware.com wrote:
This evening I had an interesting conversation with a very determined
10-year old boy who wants to learn programming in Java and nothing but Java.
I told him that I recommend Python as a first programing language,
...@gmail.com
wrote:
On Fri, Mar 13, 2015 at 7:33 AM, David MacQuigg macqu...@ece.arizona.edu
wrote:
The first thing that got my attention was the banner text Choosing
Python is the modern equivalent of the old adage 'nobody ever got fired for
choosing IBM'. If I were an unimaginative, risk
The latest issue of Communications of the ACM (March 2015) has an article
titled Python for Beginners with a few points that surprised me.
The first thing that got my attention was the banner text Choosing Python
is the modern equivalent of the old adage 'nobody ever got fired for
choosing IBM'.
these questions because I expect to have to answer them when I propose
introducing Python in high schools in my community.
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * *
* Research Associatephone
No problem with Python 2.7.3 on a MacBookPro with 2GB memory and a light load
of other programs. Could it be dependent on how much memory you have
available?
There might be slight differences in the memory consumption in computing the
two different forms. I would guess the second form
Excellent article. It is good to see the revolution moving forward in at least
a few schools. Khan Academy is also adding CS. This is very encouraging.
When I read the headline Giving Women the Access Code, I was worried that it
sounded like a watered-down course for women. It's not that at
-underappreciated/
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/361675/python-doctest-vs-unittest
See pykata.org for examples that make extensive use of doctests for both
explanation and unit testing.
On 2/26/11 11:25 AM, Laura Creighton wrote:
In a message of Sat, 26 Feb 2011 10:28:58 MST, David MacQuigg
function itself. This is
a simple extension of what the students already know.
--
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * *
* Research Associatephone: USA 520-721-4583 * * *
* ECE
, it can't be == to anything but itself
False
b[0] is a[0]
False
b[0] is b[1]
False
b[0][0]
__main__.X object at 0x14d1d90
b[0][0] == a[0][0]
False
b[0][0] == b[1][0]
True
--
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg
Mark Engelberg wrote:
On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 2:41 PM, David MacQuigg wrote:
Would you rather have Python do something different?
My own preference is that I would like 5*[[]] to be syntactic sugar for:
[ [ ] for i in range(5)]
Then what about 5*[x], 5*[[x]], 5*[[3,x]], ... where x itself
checkbooks. :)
-- Dave
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * *
* Research Associatephone: USA 520-721-4583 * * *
* ECE Department, University of Arizona
sets easily, allowing a radical
deepening of every subject. The learning curve would be very modest
when integrated with arithmetic and elementary science, and applied to
languages, history, geography, health, and gym.
snip
David MacQuigg wrote:
Edward Cherlin wrote:
Christian
that one does have some
appeal to teachers who have had to read sloppy student code.)
Ultimately, it is word-of-mouth, one teacher telling another, that I
think will decide which language gets used.
-- Dave
*
* David MacQuigg, PhD
Christian Mascher wrote:
Edward Cherlin wrote:
[sigh]
Do math tables in a math array language.
degrees =. i. 91 NB. 0..90
radians =. degrees * o. % 180
table =. |: degrees, 1 2 3 o./ radians
Sorry, I don't know J (Kirby does), but this is exactly the reason I
prefer Python. Readability
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * *
* Research Associatephone: USA 520-721-4583 * * *
* ECE Department, University of Arizona * * *
* 9320 East Mikelyn Lane
.
--
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * *
* Research Associatephone: USA 520-721-4583 * * *
* ECE Department, University of Arizona
the decision, but if anyone has any experience, comments or
suggestions, now is the time.
-- Dave
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * *
* Research Associatephone: USA 520-721-4583
to doing this as a web app, so I haven't
given much thought to making it a self-contained downloadable app.
-- Dave
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * *
* Research Associatephone
bad connotations?
-- Dave
Editor in Chief, PyWhip
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * *
* Research Associatephone: USA 520-721-4583 * * *
* ECE Department, University of Arizona
with that subculture. :)
I'm more interested in opinions with reasons than just votes. The
decision will be made by those who are active on the project.
-- Dave
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu
---yesterday-and-next-year...-td26745289.html
(problematic due to popular javascript library with the same name)
On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 1:32 PM, David MacQuigg
macqu...@ece.arizona.edu wrote:
OK, PyWhip is out. I'm still looking for something short and memorable.
How about PyJet? Fits right
definition.
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * *
* Research Associatephone: USA 520-721-4583 * * *
* ECE Department, University of Arizona
Hi Bill,
Yes, I am interested. Please send copies or links of your papers and
anecdotal evidence. Comments from former students would be especially
interesting. It might be nice to compare the reactions of CS majors to
majors in other departments.
I'm a little surprised the Python
kirby urner wrote:
More to the point is wanting to render pre-existing well-established
mathematics in a more accessible, hands-on, and intelligible
format, without losing any backward compatibility.
List comprehensions *illuminate* ideas about functions, do not
detract from them. Creating a
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * *
* Research Associatephone: USA 520-721-4583 * * *
* ECE Department, University of Arizona
michel paul wrote:
Recently I've found Sage http://sagemath.org invaluable for the
purpose of getting computational thinking into the math curriculum.
I've spent the last year figuring out how to harness Sage in class,
and it is paying off. The difficulty with a pure Python approach has
kirby urner wrote:
Unfortunately, our grand plans have been stalled for lack of a volunteer web
programmer who can finish the hardest part of the job - the last 10%. We
are considering applying for a grant, so we can hire a professional. I wish
I had more time. Google App Engine, Django,
to contribute? What would be a good
introductory example of multiple inheritance I wonder? I recall David
MacQuigg sharing some examples where __mro__ (method resolution order)
made an appearance.
MRO was an advanced topic in an advanced chapter on OOP, not anything I
would include in an introductory
that is not easily translated to another language, that is a
clue that the problem is about cruft, not fundamentals. I would
volunteer to do the Java to Python translations.
-- Dave
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg
Litvin wrote:
At 09:36 AM 1/25/2010, David MacQuigg wrote:
I can't imagine teaching or testing CS without an actual language. A
much better alternative would be to have the same test in multiple
languages (perhaps with a handicap factor for the students choosing
Python, so they don't have
Litvin wrote:
AP is driven by colleges. The AP exam used to be in C++ until 2003.
The current exam has heavy emphasis on OOP. It took a tremendous
effort to retrain HS teachers from C++ to Java/OOP... If the college
board decided that Python is used at most colleges in intro CS
courses,
Kristin Baaki wrote:
I was hoping someone could recommend a book of practice
programs/problems. I've been creating all my class exercises and
large programming projects on my own and at times I've run out of
ideas. If someone could point me in the right directions I'd
appreciate it.
We
At 11:48 PM 4/19/2009 +0200, Gregor Lingl wrote:
There are quite a few differences between Python 2 and Python 3 that concern
the semantics of code.
Thank you Andre, Laura and Gregor. I am changing my mind on how to deal with
these differences. I can see now that they do indeed carry
At 07:07 PM 4/15/2009 -0700, kirby urner wrote:
On the choice between Python 2 and 3, I would say teach both, but limit the
Python 2 syntax to your specific needs. Most students will see the print
statement as the only difference, and learning both is not much burden,
particularly if we
Hi Andre,
Nice work. I have two suggestions, and a few minor edits.
On the choice between Python 2 and 3, I would say teach both, but limit the
Python 2 syntax to your specific needs. Most students will see the print
statement as the only difference, and learning both is not much burden,
for teaching specific topics like
logic, strings, etc.
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * *
* Research Associatephone: USA 520-721-4583 * * *
* ECE Department, University of Arizona
At 11:14 AM 4/14/2009 -0700, kirby urner wrote:
Depends on your own background in programming, and whether you need to do
anything unusual like accelerate a program with a function in C. My guess
is the average math or science teacher will have no difficulty learning the
basics of Python
At 09:35 AM 4/7/2009 -0400, Gary Pajer wrote:
I am but a poor physicist and self-taught (out of necessity) programmer, aside
from one course in FORTRAN in 1973. Until this discussion I was not at all
familiar with the terms TDD, unittest, design pattern, class model, state
model,
At 11:30 AM 3/27/2009 -0500, kirby urner wrote:
PyWhip is moving in the same direction.
Using unittest is another option (instead of doctest).
So far, I've been able to get doctest to do anything I need in testing, even
some fairly complex tests involving multiple functions, pre-test setup,
At 10:51 PM 3/6/2009 -0400, Andre Roberge wrote:
David MacQuigg wrote:
I started to do this as a downloadable program, then Athar jumped in and said
he could do it just as easily in Google App Engine. He did in one weekend
what took several weeks on my own server in an earlier project
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * *
* Research Associatephone: USA 520-721-4583 * * *
* ECE Department, University of Arizona * * *
* 9320 East Mikelyn Lane
At 08:09 PM 3/3/2009 -0800, michel paul wrote:
On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 2:27 PM, David MacQuigg
mailto:macqu...@ece.arizona.edumacqu...@ece.arizona.edu wrote:
Before I discovered Python a couple of years ago I was experimenting with a
pseudo-code approach for expressing math concepts. I had
)
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * *
* Research Associatephone: USA 520-721-4583 * * *
* ECE Department, University of Arizona * * *
* 9320 East Mikelyn Lane * * *
* http
even invite Java, if she will come down to this level. :)
What else do we need in CTL? Would anyone like to join me in defining this new
language? I'll write the translator to Python.
-- Dave
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * *
* Research Associatephone: USA 520-721-4583 * * *
* ECE Department, University of Arizona * * *
* 9320 East Mikelyn Lane
. Many thanks.
-- Dave
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * *
* Research Associatephone: USA 520-721-4583 * * *
* ECE Department, University of Arizona
Euler. We could do something
similar with PyBat, increasing the number of topics and the number of problems
on each topic, until we have covered all of Python.
-- Dave
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu
At 11:54 AM 2/6/2009 -0800, Scott David Daniels wrote:
About my message:
... Nickel summary, lookup order is not dirt simple, and reading
and writing work differently.
David MacQuigg wrote:
Maybe I'm missing some subtleties, but it still seems simple to me.
An attribute is looked up
And I just noticed a great thread on comp.lang.python addressing the
exact lookup order for obtaining attributes most recent post this
morning. The Thread Title is Understanding Descriptors,
Brian Allen Vanderburg II asked the initial question, and Aahz and
Bruno Desthuillers came up with a
a VPS, so a crash wouldn't affect anyone but this
group of students.
I guess I'll look into some of the full-stack frameworks at
http://wiki.python.org/moin/WebFrameworks.
-- Dave
On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 1:57 PM, David MacQuigg
macqu...@ece.arizona.edu wrote:
The CS Dept is considering putting
the students' scores and work-in-progress. Running user code is a
bit more of a challenge than running our code on user data, but javabat has
inspired me.
Any recommendations?
-- Dave
*
* David MacQuigg, PhDemail: macquigg
At 09:33 PM 1/22/2009 -0800, Edward Cherlin wrote:
On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 3:09 PM, David MacQuigg wrote:
I'm putting together a list of topics for a proposed course entitled
Programming for Scientists and Engineers. See the link to CS2 under
http://ece.arizona.edu/~edatools
/15/2009 -0700, David MacQuigg wrote:
I'm putting together a list of topics for a proposed course entitled
Programming for Scientists and Engineers. See the link to CS2 under
http://ece.arizona.edu/~edatools/index_classes.htm. This is intended as a
follow-on to an introductory course in either
I'm putting together a list of topics for a proposed course entitled
Programming for Scientists and Engineers. See the link to CS2 under
http://ece.arizona.edu/~edatools/index_classes.htm. This is intended as a
follow-on to an introductory course in either Java or C, so the students will
At 09:59 AM 12/13/2008 -0500, csev wrote:
I generally do not like IDLE - it uses a socket which can get messed
up, bugs in the student's code seem to mess up the IDE, when a program
needs to open a data file - it is hard to force IDLE into a known
directory.
In Windows, drag the IDLE icon
At 02:37 PM 12/8/2008 -0500, Vern Ceder wrote:
... here are the reasons I see that more
schools don't offer programming:
1) Lack of qualified staff. Sadly a graduate with a teaching certificate
(as required by the state) usually doesn't have anything like the
background to teach programming, let
We need lots of examples where programming is useful to non-programmers. I
already mentioned the real estate agent needing to digest some data from the
property appraisers office. For the shop teacher: How about a homeowner
wanting to lay tiles, avoid wastage, and slivers that look bad along
if Obama understands what
they are saying, or bad if he can't distinguish between good advice and glib
nonsense. Let's hope Vint Cerf can keep him on the right track.
On Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 6:57 AM, David MacQuigg mailto:[EMAIL
PROTECTED][EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Kirby,
This is very well
At 04:10 PM 11/7/2008 -0800, kirby urner wrote:
Ruby also good at integrating OpenGL, expect lots of good curriculum
writing for that language already in the pipeline.
Wouldn't it be better to port the good stuff to Python? Same for
Ruby-on-Rails. The more we fork, the longer it will take to
At 10:29 PM 9/12/2008 -0700, michel paul wrote:
The first homework assignment in my math classes this year was to download and
install Python. I've been using it most extensively in my FST (Functions
Statistics Trig) class.
Sounds like the same class I took as a high school Junior in 1963.
I'm putting together some problems for students in ECE 578, Computer Networks.
The simulator being used in the class is truly awful, one of these expensive
commercial programs, dumbed down for academic use, but still loaded with the
non-essential complexity typical of programs written for
At 07:28 PM 8/10/2008 -0700, kirby urner wrote:
Learning GUI programming fundamentals is best accomplished with a
straight text editor IMO (vim, scintilla, whatever).
I'll second that. Learn just a few simple widgets in Tk. It's not that much
typing. I've also used BlackAdder and Qt (years
Hello Massimo,
I'm really impressed with web2py. Even with the huge productivity advantage of
Python, this is still a big project.
My first impression, after a few hours, is that this could be our Rails on
Python - a simple web framework for those of us who know Python, but don't
want to
At 03:37 AM 7/11/2008 -0500, Jeff Rush wrote:
On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 11:48 AM, David MacQuigg
If you are stuck in a car for an hour each day and you want to listen
to such an audio book, then it's a 0,1 proposition. You could at
least learn about object-oriented thinking, and qualitative
At 06:35 PM 5/20/2008 -0700, Warren Sande wrote:
Putting aside the pass-by-X question, a beginner asks:
If I doA = (something) then B = Athen I change A, does B also
change?
And the answer, again, is It depends. For mutable types, yes, for immutable
types, no. And that's a
) -- object:(type, value, address)
re-bind a variable
modify an object
copy a pointer
-- Dave
On Tue, 2008-05-20 at 10:29 -0700, David MacQuigg wrote:
Hi John,
I did some more searching on this question, and I see it has been discussed
many times before. I read a few of the threads
to a function - copy the value or copy a
reference.
-- Dave
At 01:48 PM 5/16/2008 -0700, David MacQuigg wrote:
If there are no objections to my models and terminology, the next step is to
describe exactly what happens when we pass an argument in C and in Python.
C is very helpful, since
At 07:23 AM 5/16/2008 -0400, you wrote:
... In that situation, it does help to explain
Python's calling mechanism in terms that these students
understand. I've posted my answer at
http://ece.arizona.edu/~edatools/ece175/Lecture/QnA.txt
One tiny wordsmithing suggestion ...
Note: A
that Python does in passing an
argument.
-- Dave
At 12:41 PM 5/15/2008 -0700, David MacQuigg wrote:
At 04:30 PM 5/14/2008 -0500, John Zelle wrote:
At some point, I have to just let this go, as I think we all on this
list have a pretty good understanding of the differences between C and
Python
At 04:30 PM 5/14/2008 -0500, John Zelle wrote:
At some point, I have to just let this go, as I think we all on this
list have a pretty good understanding of the differences between C and
Python in terms of assignment and parameter passing. But let's _not_ use
the term pass by reference when
At 11:05 AM 5/8/2008 -0400, John Posner wrote:
The sticky-note analogy has a flaw. You can't stick one note on top
of another. When you say x = y = z, all three variables now point to
the object originally pointed to by z. Then when you say y = 8,
y now points to an integer object 8, but
I agree, there is no reason to dig into call-by-??? terminology with new
untainted programmers. The sticky-note analogy is all we need for these
students. The figures in Michael's book are excellent.
However, having been tainted by C, I am finding the discussion interesting. I
just don't
. The new definition is
simple if you think of result (argument in calling program not changeable by
the called function).
Should we add a note to that Wikipedia page?
-- Dave
On Tue, 2008-05-06 at 07:45 -0700, David MacQuigg wrote:
I agree, there is no reason to dig into call
. :)
-- Dave
At 11:47 AM 5/6/2008 -0700, David MacQuigg wrote:
John,
This is the best explanation I've heard so far for why Python is call by
value, but it still leaves me dissatisfied that what I thought was simple
(call-by-value) is really complicated and not very useful to me, and what
Many thanks to Michael, Anna and John for the very thorough answers to this
question. I especially like John's sticky-note analogy. I have been using a
similar analogy with labels, but that gets confused with the other more
common uses of the word label. Sticky Note is unique and more
I talked with the CIS department chairman and one of the faculty about the
possibility of teaching Python at our community college, and they weren't
interested. (Oh No, not another language ... ) Also, the lack of declarations
was a show-stopper.
I encountered this same objection from one
This was the question from a student at my recent lecture to a class of
engineering students studying C. My answer was brief: It doesn't - arguments
are passed by value. Then I thought, this is really misleading for students of
C, where pass-by-value means making a copy of the passed object.
Getting this right can be slightly brain-bending ... quote from discussion
on Decorators in What's New in Python 2.4. :(
Kirby, I love your examples below!! Helped me understand the generality of the
@ syntax (which I gave up on before the developers had finished their
discussion), and the
At 10:50 AM 3/30/2008 -0700, you wrote:
My dept chair finally agreed to let me have an hour to present Python to the
math dept during our staff development day last Friday. I knew that an hour
wouldn't be enough, so I wrote a manifesto : ) which is attached.
Excellent!! I'll pass this on
Rich,
Hello, and thanks for joining the edu-sig list. I'm a PhD electrical engineer
with a recently re-ignited interest in computer science, largely due to my
discovery of Python in 2002. I'm also volunteer staff at U of A, helping
teach various courses.
I'm especially interested in your
At 01:41 AM 3/20/2008 +0100, Stef Mientki wrote:
I started about a year ago with the Enthought edition
http://code.enthought.com/enthon/
This leads to a series of deprecated links, some several months old, and no
clear guidance as to what a student should install. This website is a mess!!
Our mandelbrot demo is working nicely, thanks to all the help I've gotten from
folks on this list. We are using only the weave package, not the full SciPy
install. It would be nice to show some additional examples from SciPy,
however, especially tools that students will find useful in later
PM, David MacQuigg wrote:
It would make a nice improvement in this Mandelbrot demo if you
could show me a way to significantly improve the speed of the Python
I already have, perhaps avoiding the need for C.
Actually, I don't see a clean way to vectorize that inner loop, so
maybe numpy isn't
the
functions and event types used in the snippet above.
Many thanks for your help.
-- Dave
- Original Message
From: David MacQuigg [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Warren Sande [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 2:51:00 PM
Subject: Re: [Edu-sig] Introducing Python to Engineering
At 07:24 PM 3/11/2008 -0700, Rob Malouf wrote:
On Mar 11, 2008, at 5:11 PM, David MacQuigg wrote:
It would make a nice improvement in this Mandelbrot demo if you
could show me a way to significantly improve the speed of the Python
I already have, perhaps avoiding the need for C
Many thanks for the quick and very helpful responses!!
At 08:00 PM 3/10/2008 -0700, kirby urner wrote:
Just in case you want to look at an all Python solution down to the
pixel level (using PIL):
http://4dsolutions.net/ocn/fractals.html
Very nice!! I like the clear concise explanation of
I've been asked to give an intro to Python for a freshman class with 150
students at University of Arizona. The class is taught in the Electrical and
Computer Engineering Department, and is titled Computer Programming for
Engineering Applications. The language is C (Hanly Koffman, Problem
Here is how I would explain Python variables to kids:
'''
In Python, naming variables is like sticking labels on objects. Unlike other
languages, the labels have no type. When we say x is an integer, that's just a
shortcut for saying x is a name that currently refers to or identifies an
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