User talk:I8086

Just an FYI. Many of the initial computer resources were created in the Topic: namespace rather than the main resource namespace. The problem with that approach is that Topics: don't appear in searches. Topic: was meant for Wikiversity divisions and departments to discuss topics rather than as content articles. I've moved the Disk Operating System resources to the main space. Let me know if you have any questions. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 13:16, 5 November 2014 (UTC)Reply

Wikipedia links should be entered as internal wiki links, using either w: or Wikipedia:. Links to other pages in the same learning project can be entered using relative reference ../ notation. This way when projects are renamed, the page links don't need to be adjusted. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 13:34, 5 November 2014 (UTC)Reply

Hey, thanks for the all the help! I'm just getting started with Wikversity. ^.^ Is there any kind of list of templates to use in Wikversity? Right now I just dissect other pages and learn from them. --I8086 (discuss • contribs) 14:16, 5 November 2014 (UTC)Reply

That's pretty much it. You find other courses you like, and then copy / emulate that style. Many of the computer science resources have a style similar to the ones you're working on. They're also some of the most popular articles on Wikiversity. On View History on each page there's a link to Readers that gives you hit counts. There's also ViewStats, which used to work, but is currently not functional. Something else to consider is whether the projects you develop will be teaching projects or learning projects. Many of the computer science projects are teaching projects, where they present content but don't have much in the way of engagement or hands-on activities. The information technology projects are designed to include those hands-on activities. See Windows Server Administration for one example. For another approach, take a look at Web Science. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 14:39, 5 November 2014 (UTC)Reply

Thanks a bunch! I'll keep all this in mind. I'm sure I'll get a hang of this before the week is over. --I8086 (discuss • contribs) 14:44, 5 November 2014 (UTC)Reply

This physics page mentions a Python resource that you are developing. There is no reason for you to write the Python code that models a spinning ball striking a block of wood, but someday high school and first-year college students might be able to perform interesting physics experiments using a simple homemade experiment and a computer code that compares theory and experiment. This will will not happen soon, but your efforts are appreciated.--guyvan52 (discuss • contribs) 17:18, 27 November 2014 (UTC)Reply

I'll do some serious work on it when the weekdays start. (I've been having a nice Thanksgiving break.) --I8086 (discuss • contribs) 18:30, 29 November 2014 (UTC)Reply

I've review the page and I have a few questions about the simulator.

1. Should it be a console program or a GUI? (GUI is probably the best route...)
2. Is it going to output data after the experiment or show animation of the experiment? (Hey, why not both...)
3. Should we be confined to just Python's standard library or should we use extensions like SciPy and NumPy? (SciPy would help with the animation if we choose to do so...)

This should help clarify some things about the project. Thanks. --I8086 (discuss • contribs) 14:59, 2 December 2014 (UTC)Reply

I realized that I didn't put your name within the last post, Guy vandegrift. I apologize. --I8086 (discuss • contribs) 20:56, 5 December 2014 (UTC)Reply

Yeah, I have this dual name because when I registered I didn't realize that most people use names that preserve privacy. So I thought that changing my signature to Guyvan52 would fix that. Instead I have not privacy but confusion. Fortunately the world is so big nobody cares who I am.guyvan52 (discuss • contribs) 01:12, 6 December 2014 (UTC)Reply

I didn't know there was any privacy on the internet. ;) --I8086 (discuss • contribs) 14:38, 8 December 2014 (UTC)Reply

Just an FYI regarding deleting pages and putting content on other pages. In general, it is best to move a page and improve / revise it, even significantly, if any content from the page is being retained or reused. We delete in this case only when the page has no educational objectives. The reason being that the original content is covered under CC-BY-SA licensing. The BY part is key here. We need to credit the original author for their contribution. However, the original author of the Python/Basic Script page was an anonymous IP contribution, so I will go ahead and delete it. The other alternative is for me to merge the edit history into one of the pages the content moved to. Not difficult, but requires multiple steps. Let me know if you have any questions. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 01:35, 9 December 2014 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for letting me know, I had no idea (I guess I should have been more careful about the licensing). I'll be more aware of this in the future. --I8086 (discuss • contribs) 02:09, 9 December 2014 (UTC)Reply

I noticed that Python#Further_reading links to https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/ as the Official Python Tutorial. Would you like me to update that to https://docs.python.org/3.4/tutorial/ ? --guyvan52 (discuss • contribs) 23:55, 9 December 2014 (UTC)Reply

Indeed do so. Python 3.X is the standard for the resource, Python 2.X mixed with Python 3.X will do more harm than good. --I8086 (discuss • contribs) 00:52, 10 December 2014 (UTC)Reply

I recently created a space-saving interwiki template and tried to put on Python. Unfortunately, there were some bugs in it. Right now, the four images misbehave if you shrink down the size too much. I can fix that by submitting all of them as one image to commons.--guyvan52 (discuss • contribs) 18:25, 13 December 2014 (UTC)Reply

I see what you mean about the images rendering in small sizes, but I think the template overall makes the page looks cleaner and nicer. Thanks! --I8086 (discuss • contribs) 14:06, 15 December 2014 (UTC)Reply

My plan is to introduce Python to non-technical students this summer using 11 lab computers. I will install the latest stable version of Python 3, but wonder if something else should be installed, such as a GUI or Notepad++ for text editing. I am taking a super-minimalistic "go slow" approach. This summer's course is Astronomy, so the only excuses to introduce Python are that (1) Astronomer's use computers a lot and (2) certain simple calculations are introduced (e.g. parallax angle) that they would prefer to do with a computer than by hand or calculator.

I like Notepad++ a lot because I can, for example, edit Inkscape generated svg files (although I lack the knowledge of svg to do much more than mess up the image). I also like Notepad++ when I am using the MatLab GUI: I keep the file being developed in the GUI and and place copies of "library" codes that I do NOT want to modify in Notepad++. That way I don't get them confused and accidentally edit the wrong code.

To summarize:

1. Should I install other software to help me introduce Python to beginners?
2. Would Notepad++ be an asset when using Python?

These questions refer only to the early "getting started" phase of Python. I hope to someday use Python more extensively on a number of projects. Every year I can install something else that gets ghosted on (i.e. when a student walks away from the computer all but basic BIOS gets erased and rebooted). I don't want add too much software in a single installment. --Guy vandegrift (discuss • contribs) 15:47, 2 April 2015 (UTC)Reply

@Guy vandegrift: The default CPython installation at python.org comes will an extensively large set of libraries and a default IDE, IDLE. Its like Notepad++, but its less advanced, although it's specialized for Python development. I find it easier to use IDLE, since it comes directly with an installation of CPython. When you install CPython, you'll be able to try it out and if it's not up to your standards, then you could additionally install Notepad++ on the computer(s). If you do use Notepad++, you'll probably need the Python plugin mentioned in this question. On top of this, IDLE is cross-platform while Notepad++ is only for Windows (unless you use Wine).

Basically the main installation will come with everything you need to start developing. Besides that, you might possibly need one additional library, SciPy. This library is used for scientific computing and it includes NumPy, which has some relationship to MATLAB and Octave. But for astronomy, I'm not completely sure that you would need this.

I hope this helps. --I8086 (discuss • contribs) 16:30, 2 April 2015 (UTC)Reply

Since somebody else installed it for me, I have to ask: Is CPython installed autmatically, or is it an option that must be requested as you install from python.org?--Guy vandegrift (discuss • contribs) 21:23, 2 April 2015 (UTC)Reply

CPython is the main implementation of Python. So speaking, Python is a programming language, while CPython is the original interpreter that you get at python.org. CPython is used to differentiate between newer implementations like:

• Cython (NOT CPython) - Python to C translator that uses Python library calls. Compiles with GCC or MSVS.
• Jython - Python to Java bytecode compiler. You can use Java libraries in Python.
• IronPython - Python to CLR compiler or its a interpreter, not sure. Allows access to .NET APIs.

There's a lot of other implementations/compilers/translators/interpreters I didn't even mentioned.

To summarize, Python is a programming language and CPython interpreters said programming language. While I'm at it, CPython got its name because its written in C, so C+Python=CPython. This is probably the hardest concept to learn about Python (It gets easier after the installation and setup). I hope this clarified things. --I8086 (discuss • contribs) 22:02, 2 April 2015 (UTC)Reply

Incoming links (What links here) must be cleaned up before deleting a Redirect page. Redirects must be orphaned to qualify for speedy delete. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 19:17, 15 May 2015 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for letting me know... I'll get familiar with this sooner or later. --I8086 (discuss • contribs) 19:20, 15 May 2015 (UTC)Reply

I'm quickly remembering why I never consolidated the C programming resources. Lot's of incoming links to deal with. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 20:03, 15 May 2015 (UTC)Reply

There's worse off resources than that. Thanks for all your help moving/deleting/editing C resources. I'll see to it that some new content gets on there. --I8086 (discuss • contribs) 20:07, 15 May 2015 (UTC)Reply

Good to see you back at Wikiversity! -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 22:17, 16 July 2015 (UTC)Reply

Thanks! The last couple of months have been really busy. --I8086 (discuss • contribs) 13:57, 17 July 2015 (UTC)Reply

Could you elaborate on the notice on Python/Quizzes/Basic data types with "This quiz seems to have several mistakes". What specifically is wrong? — Fnielsen (discuss • contribs) 10:41, 12 November 2015 (UTC)Reply

Sorry for the long awaited reply:

• Question 5: <type 'list'> needs to be <class 'list'> I believe.
• Question 7: Isn't reproducible.

Actually, I think everything is Python 2.X compatible; I think I flagged it because it isn't 3. I hope to hear from you soon! --I8086 (discuss • contribs) 04:00, 31 December 2015 (UTC)Reply