My principal interest in mobile applications is to push the boundaries of innovation to create uniquely mobile experiences. I hope my blogs excite and challenge developers to think 'outside the box'.
the joys of teaching with Python for S60
coultonp | 12 July, 2006 16:55
Today I ran a workshop on mobile phone programming as part of the scheme to encourage pre-university students to pursue degrees in computer science and engineering.
We took the through the development of a single player air hockey game through to a fully operational two player version in three hours. Although we had to give them much of the overall structure because of the time scale they were very quickly at the stage were they were changing the game physics and even adjusting the size of the goal to gain an advantage!
Single Player Version
Two Player Version
Once again I was impressed how easily students adapt to Python and how much enthusiasm you can generate very quickly.
I intend to develop this into a much more structured tutorial and post it for the community a soon as I can so stay tuned.
Oh yes and great to see the new version for S60 3rd edition so many thanks to those involved.
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Re: the joys of teaching with Python for S60
coultonp | 14/07/2006, 11:09
HarttiI know Jurgen well as we started playing with Python around the same time but he has done a great job producing some getting started Python tutorials which I recommend to all my students when starting out.
This is my second year running this course and I wanted to share my enthusiasm so I am glad that it also gave you the opportunity to use that phrase (might pinch that one myself!).
Re: the joys of teaching with Python for S60
eriksmartt | 20/07/2006, 23:57
Re: the joys of teaching with Python for S60
coultonp | 02/08/2006, 17:18
ErikMy apologies for the tardy response I have been on holiday and then had trouble accessing my account. However, all is now well (thanks once again to Elina and Forum Nokia Champion) and I am back in business. I havent posted the code yet as it was done fairly quickly and I want to tidy it up a bit, but will do this soon and make a blog for it. The students were given a fairly regimented direction for this, because of the short time scale, so they followed the example pretty closely. I will write it as a much longer set of tutorials I think which should allow more freedom as the game works very nicely and is very good fun to play.
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My principal interest in mobile applications is to push the boundaries of innovation to create uniquely mobile experiences. I hope my blogs excite and challenge developers to think 'outside the box'.
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Re: the joys of teaching with Python for S60
hartti | 14/07/2006, 00:05
I completely agree. Jurgen Scheible has had the same experience when teaching Python programming in various places (University of Art and Design Helsinki, Yahoo-Berkeley Research Labs & Stanford to name a few. It is also nicely shown in his videos of the courses (see http://mobilehub.uiah.fi/)
Also my own experiences of Python are along the same lines. Although you stil need to learn some syntax and check some details from the reference manuals - getting up to speed with Python is very fast and easy.
In academic circles this is sometimes described as "low threshold, high ceiling" (I have been trying to find a place to use this expression - thanks to you Paul, I finally got my chance!)
Hartti