Re: [Visualpython-users] Let's hash out the documentation for restrictive imports

[Lenore H. <lh...@si...>]

From my perspective of wanting to use Visual to let physics students work with problems they can't solve analytically (at least not at their math level), having to start off with one line of "this gives us access to the tools we need" rather than 5 or 10 lines of the same makes a lot of sense.  I'm NOT teaching programming in that case.  All of the import and scene creation stuff is noise that we have to get past to get to the modeling.  I admit I'm trying to have my cake and eat it too.  I like the output and scene control available in visual better than in the Easy Java Simulation program but I'd like to minimize the programming aspects the way EJS does.    For me, Visual is a modeling tool not a programming tool.  

Lenore Horner

On Oct 7, 2010, at 4:04 PM, C Anthony Risinger wrote:

> On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 2:25 PM, Bruce Sherwood <bas...@nc...> wrote:
>> 
>> For a large group of casual users, and for backward compatibility with
>> sizable numbers of programs in existence, it is important that "from
>> visual import *" continue to behave as it has in the past.
> 
> i know you have stated this a few times, but i'm just not clear to
> this requirement.  forgive my ignorance, as i'm neither a professor
> nor a student, only a professional developer, so my viewpoint is
> likely biased :-)
> 
> what i don't understand, is how "from visual import *" actually makes
> anything easier for the student/learner.  when someone (student) does
> that, they don't even know what they just did, until someone else
> (professor) tells them "ok, now this line will pull in X, Y, Z and the
> rest of the alphabet for you to use", what's the difference in simply
> explaining "ok, now pull/import the things you need; here is an
> exhaustive list of what you might need".
> 
> either way the student must be explicitly told what is available.  at
> least with explicit imports, they know exactly what is available in
> the current program.  it seems much better in the long run for the
> personal development of the student to not only show how, but also
> _why_.
> 
> but again, i have little experience directing others.
> 
> C Anthony
> 
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