> 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 in a few weeks, and will get all the help they need from > participants on this list. The tutorials at > http://docs.python.org/3.0/tutorial/index.html and > http://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide are excellent, and the tutorials > (help files) on PyWhip will be even better for teaching specific topics like > logic, strings, etc. >
Actually if you skip thinking like a computer scientist and just focus on algebra, i.e. namespaces and operator overloading within the first 20 minutes, then you'll leave these CS nerds in the dust within a year or two, won't need 'em as sysadmins even. :) Friendly competition: Python was never intended as a purely "CS offering", grew up in the real world as we say. Guido will correct me if I'm wrong (except he's in the reptile house at the San Diego zoo, away from his computer (I'm watching him through the glass (slither))): http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157...@n00/3440228677/ Welcome aboard Maria, glad you've waded in to our waters. Scratch MIT is wonderful. Does it run on XO yet? There's no either/or dynamic in any of these choices. I'm also interested in Gattegno bricks from the UK, have seen it on iPhone but don't think we need "everything virtual" i.e. the polyhedra I'm using are often in plastic (Zome, CubeIT... StrangeAttractors) not just in pixels. I'm off to the Pycon videos stash to watch Gregor's talk on Turtle Graphics, which I missed catching live. I see the Jeff Rush talk has been published as well, which I'm eager to see again (it was brilliant). Kirby > ************************************************************ * > * David MacQuigg, PhD email: macquigg at ece.arizona.edu * * > * Research Associate phone: USA 520-721-4583 * * * > * ECE Department, University of Arizona * * * > * 9320 East Mikelyn Lane * * * > * http://purl.net/macquigg Tucson, Arizona 85710 * > ************************************************************ * > > _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list > Edu-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
