Re: [Visualpython-users] Progress toward wxPython

[C A. R. <an...@xt...>]

On Sat, Oct 20, 2012 at 9:47 PM, Mark Adam <dre...@gm...> wrote:
> On Sat, Oct 20, 2012 at 7:23 PM, Bruce Sherwood <Bru...@nc...> wrote:
>
>> As for "VPython attracts young programmers", I've been disappointed
>> that Brandmeyer was the only new person, young or old, to get deeply
>> involved with VPython development after its creation.
>
> I meant that 3-d graphics, in the easy way that vpython makes it, adds
> a very cool "gee-wiz" factor that is hard to beat.  Young programmers
> eat that stuff up, and it acts as a magnet that attracts more
> development.

perhaps a bit random...

vpython is actually the reason i forced myself to learn python.  i was
indeed fascinated by the simplicity and power of it all, and my foray
was a re-implementation of [ruby] gltail that i sadly never finished,
albeit learned a ton... been lurking on the list ever since...
something like 3-4 years or so.

i suppose i'm not suuuuper young @ 25yo; i've been a full-time
developer for ~5-6yrs -- the last two purely python -- i credit
portions of the latter to vpython's alluring brilliance, and the rest
to python's own inherent magnificence.

sadly i have not contributed much of anything concrete, due mostly to
the ever-lasting-excuse "lack-of-time" and "other-projects" and [...],
but i recently gave a demo of vpython for ~45 other developers
(Perl/PHP/JS primarily) at work that was extremely well received --
spheres orbiting a "gravity well" -- where each sphere represents (and
responds+morphs to) events/messages occurring on the company -wide
message queue (rabbitmq)... so after little more than ~200 lines of
glue and glitz, i demo'ed a real-time visualization of human
"busy-ness"... the events in question were ~600 call center agent
status changes (hold/waiting/busy/incoming/cool-down/etc) from a
facility several hundred miles away.

needless to say, and despite it's obvious simplicity and/or lack of
any real practical use, it still irradiated onlookers with "very cool
`gee-wiz` factor" and piqued the interest of everyone around --
non-developers alike -- and ultimately led to some
chatter/buzzing/exploring the possibilities.

apologies on the length; hopefully a little success story at the very
least!  even my 3yo son asks me to "play the balls" for him pretty
often still, and doing so gets many-a-"wows" and "that's cool dad"
sent my way :)

visual-python FTW!

-- 

C Anthony