Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!)

References	<44c11575-2481-4220-9d3c-b53879e9cd8f@googlegroups.com> <CAPTjJmpK8SXKB1+2DeEjJ5hWNwDV578sravWhCkz=PE2jttMew@mail.gmail.com>
Date	2013-07-16 20:53 -0400
Subject	Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!)
From	Joel Goldstick <joel.goldstick@gmail.com>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.python
Message-ID	<mailman.4788.1374022447.3114.python-list@python.org> (permalink)

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On Tue, Jul 16, 2013 at 8:40 PM, Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 8:43 AM, John Ladasky
> <john_ladasky@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> > I think that they're disappointed when I show them how much they have to
> understand just to write a program that plays Tic Tac Toe.
>
>
> The disillusionment of every novice programmer, I think. It starts out
> as "I want to learn programming and make a game". Real programming is
> more like "I can automate mundane tasks", which doesn't sound half as
> exciting. But this is why I'm dubious of programming courses that
> actually try to hold onto the "let's make a game" concept, because the
> students are likely to get a bit of a let-down on realizing that it
> really doesn't work that easily ("this is a two-week course, at the
> end of it I should have written the next <insert name of popular game>
> for all my friends").
>
> ChrisA
> --
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
>

There is a book : http://inventwithpython.com/  *Invent Your Own Computer
Games with Python*
which claims to teach people to program games in python.  I haven't read
it, but it seems to be for beginning programmers.  Take a look.. Maybe it
would work for your kids.  It says its for kids younger than high school,
but it claims to be for all ages.  It does cover the turf your gang seems
most interested in.  Other positives -- its free online.  so no
investment.  And it introduces the concept of open source which is really a
key to a large segment of the whole software world, so that gives another
teaching moment

-- 
Joel Goldstick
http://joelgoldstick.com

Thread

Homework help requested (not what you think!) John Ladasky <john_ladasky@sbcglobal.net> - 2013-07-16 15:43 -0700
  Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) David Hutto <dwightdhutto@gmail.com> - 2013-07-16 19:51 -0400
  Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) Joel Goldstick <joel.goldstick@gmail.com> - 2013-07-16 20:53 -0400
  Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-07-17 10:40 +1000
    Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2013-07-18 12:47 +0000
      Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) Gene Heskett <gheskett@wdtv.com> - 2013-07-18 09:38 -0400
  Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-07-17 11:34 +1000
  Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) alex23 <wuwei23@gmail.com> - 2013-07-17 16:35 +1000
    Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) PythonAB <python@rgbaz.eu> - 2013-07-17 10:31 +0200
  Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2013-07-17 06:51 +0000
  Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) Joshua Landau <joshua@landau.ws> - 2013-07-17 09:33 +0100
  Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) Neil Cerutti <neilc@norwich.edu> - 2013-07-17 13:20 +0000
    Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-07-17 23:29 +1000
      Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) Neil Cerutti <neilc@norwich.edu> - 2013-07-17 13:55 +0000
        Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-07-18 00:05 +1000
      Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) alex23 <wuwei23@gmail.com> - 2013-07-18 12:09 +1000
  Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) Aseem Bansal <asmbansal2@gmail.com> - 2013-07-17 21:57 -0700
  Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!) Beth McNany <beth.mcnany@gmail.com> - 2013-07-17 18:03 -0400
  RE: Homework help requested (not what you think!) Joseph Clark <joeclark77@hotmail.com> - 2013-07-18 08:46 -0700
  Homework help requested, thanks to everyone. John Ladasky <john_ladasky@sbcglobal.net> - 2013-07-21 13:49 -0700
    Re: Homework help requested, thanks to everyone. Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-07-22 10:25 +1000
      Re: Homework help requested, thanks to everyone. Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-07-21 20:57 -0400
    RE: Homework help requested, thanks to everyone. Joseph Clark <joeclark77@hotmail.com> - 2013-07-21 20:10 -0700
      PyGLet on Python 3 John Ladasky <john_ladasky@sbcglobal.net> - 2013-07-22 23:24 -0700
        Re: PyGLet on Python 3 Devyn Collier Johnson <devyncjohnson@gmail.com> - 2013-07-25 09:35 -0400
          Re: PyGLet on Python 3 John Ladasky <john_ladasky@sbcglobal.net> - 2013-07-25 15:27 -0700
    Re: Homework help requested, thanks to everyone. Skip Montanaro <skip@pobox.com> - 2013-07-22 12:01 -0500
    Re: Homework help requested, thanks to everyone. Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2013-07-22 19:39 -0400

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