On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 8:30 AM, kirby urner <[email protected]> wrote: > On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 11:53 PM, Edward Cherlin <[email protected]> wrote: > > << SNIP >> > >>> So you're doing that in your head? >> >> Not at all. I can do this example with paper and pencil, and I would >> want a calculator or a log table for larger examples. Let's see... > > And I would want my Python shell. I don't own a calculator, have no > need for one.
I mean the Calculator activity in Sugar, or gcalctool. >> 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 144 233 377 610 987 1597 2584 >> 2 8 34 144 610 2584 >> 2 10 44 188 798 3382, ok, 4 more terms...Third grade paper and pencil >> arithmetic for the rest. >> >>> I think the word "programming" is misleading in some contexts. >> >> I don't use the word for anything that can easily be done on a >> non-programmable calculator, an abacus, or a half sheet of paper by >> one with the skills commonly taught (though not very often learned in >> full) for each. > > I'm not that impressed by "commonly taught skills" i.e. if a kid knows > how to use a TI, but not Python, I'm inclined to move on to the next > candidate. EEEE! No! Pencil and paper arithmetic skills, not gadgetry. Multiple column addition, subtraction, multiplication. >>> Using Python as a calculator is what Guido mentions in his tutorial. >>> >>> Python or TI? >>> >>> XO or TI? >> >> Similarly for APL and J. >> > > Yes, as I've mentioned, APL was my first language and I've worked with > Iverson himself on a paper about J. I heard from Roger Hui just the > other day. Part of why I fell in love with Python is because of its > orthogonal primitives, feels like APL in some ways. Plus the whole OO > thing is way cool, highly accessible. > > My oft stated preference is to NOT ever (ever) get stuck in teaching > just one language, even if one emphasizes just one in this or that > classroom or on-line session. We have to get away from the notion that "teaching programming" = "teaching language syntax". That's why I am working on a set of demonstrations of programming and Computer Science ideas in Turtle Art, where children can create programs directly as trees, not linear texts that a parser turns into a tree for execution. > Per some brain science I've been > studying, we really do *not* multitask, even though we appear to, any > more than an Intel chip really does (OK, some do, but at one time it > was all round robin). > > Kirby -- Silent Thunder (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) is my name And Children are my nation. The Cosmos is my dwelling place, The Truth my destination. http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/User:Mokurai (Ed Cherlin) _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
