I suggest this:
'''
Examples of data structures are:
[a, b, c] # a list
{a:1, b:2, c:3} # a dictionary
"abc" # a string
(a,b,c) # a tuple
'''
Good suggestion, I'll do it.
For example, one well-regarded, open-source curriculum management
system is Moodle ( moodle.org) (think Blackboard, or WebCT, only
free.) If we set up a moodle site, we could each prototype courses,
placing emphasis where each of us felt was appropriate or necessary
for our own needs, or the perceived needs of a potential audience. We
might then synthesize our efforts somehow and make it available to
schools (the horizon gets hazy at this point...)
A faculty guy I work with at the school has likewise suggested Moodle. I suspect I'll be spreading Python internally to Portland Public more than I'm engaged in out-of-state collaborations, but that's just a guess. Portland seems receptive to the spin I'm putting on things (the GIS emphasis was on request BTW -- that's why all that Google Earth, latitude/longitude stuff -- already part of the curriculum).
One drawback, in my mind, is that moodle runs on php rather than
python, and I wouldn't like the subtle irony of that situation. The
obvious python product I suppose is plone (plone.org) but that would
have to be heavily customized to make it more like a courseware
system than a generic content management system. Or maybe using php
isn't so bad...
Yeah, we're not trying to only use Python for everything under the sun. Use whatever tools are available, don't always reinvent the wheel. I use lots of tools besides Python and am the more powerful for it.
Thanks for the useful feedback (just updated my section on generators to include examples of two: one for Pascal's Triangle, another for Fibonaccis, both integral in my DM/CS hybrid).
Kirby
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