[math4] Learning in software

[Mel Chua]

> I was wondering about how any activity, not just math activities, are
>  using databases?  Again, a newbie question.

Most activities (the way we've been using the word here so far as I've
seen it, anyway) don't - they're standalone, tiny, non-web-based games 
(though I'm not sure the latter is/should actually be a restriction).

>> And finally, are you writing to flat files or is there some sort of
>>  scaled down database in use or to be used?

I think this is a per-activity decision, but I've had success in the 
past with pickling (saving python objects in a flat text file) for small 
basic storage. Others may vary - I'm definitely not the most experienced 
Python game hacker here.

 >> Hi, I'm just curious as to what is motivating people like Greg D.
 >> to tackle this.  Do you guys have kids?

Still too young to have my own kids, but it wasn't too long ago that I 
was a kid myself. As a severely hearing-impaired child, the "listen to 
teachers" learning methodology didn't work so well; I taught myself most 
things from books (and later computers) and was constantly frustrated by 
the lack of resources and people to learn with that my little world 
contained - and also realized I was lucky to be /able/ to teach myself 
at all. I want my cousins (I'm the oldest of 14, the youngest is 5 now, 
and we're very close) to have better options than I did.

There are many more reasons, but that's one of mine.

--Mel