Beautifully written Michael! Plus I learned some interesting facts and bent my head a bit differently. I think you are right that we would do well to consider the implications of Sugar -- beyond the XO machine.
I would not say there are no easy and interesting places to start with Python -- Rur-ple for instance. It is not a killer-app, though. I find Rur-ple constraining when trying to extend past the carefully planned sequence in the tutorials. Thinking ahead, an environment with built-in objects with the high level methods of Scratch sprites would be good: easy animation of multiple sprites with multiple views, knowledge of collisions, maybe even knowledge of bouncing off walls and other sprites.... Scratch adds a mouse based editor/construction environment that makes syntax errors impossible. I would think that for someone with a little experience, Scratch would be a lot slower than typing. I am not suggesting insisting on taking the typing out of Python. (I have not looked to see what has been built on top of PyGame -- does something come close to what I am saying?) For starting off, I like the 2D world of Pygame/Scratch. I find the 3D world of Alice distracting. Andy Harrington Michael Tobis wrote: > My thoughts on Python in education > > Article: > http://pencilscience.blogspot.com/2007/04/edu-python-pythons-killer-app.html > > Resources: > http://pencilscience.blogspot.com/2007/04/python-first-educational-resources.html > > Presentation: http://webpages.cs.luc.edu/~mt/Python-First/Py1.html > > Comments and suggestions welcome. Please no fussing about formatting > or grammar; this is all draft. However, I would appreciate anyone > pointing out broken links. > > Mostly, I'd like to hear what you think I've left out (or anything > I've gotten wrong). > > The thrust of the article is tarting to emerge: CP4E is real again > thanks to OLPC (a project whose near-term success, while desireable, > is uncertain) and Sugar, its user environment, which may well be > unstoppable. > > On the advocacy front, this presents Python with a potential killer > app with possibilities far larger than Ruby on Rails can ever aspire > to. > > thanks for your attention > Michael Tobis > > PS - anonymous blog comments are enabled, if you'd like to reply there. > _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig > -- Andrew N. Harrington Computer Science Department Director of Academic Programs Loyola University Chicago http://www.cs.luc.edu/~anh 512B Lewis Towers (office) Office Phone: 312-915-7982 Snail mail to Lewis Towers 416 Dept. Fax: 312-915-7998 820 North Michigan Avenue [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chicago, Illinois 60611 _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
