Hi Caryl, <br><br>My first email was written in haste so I didn't explain what I am aiming at with my tutorial, so I'll do that now. I think it should answer some of your questions.<br><br>The materials I've send to the list are pure text. I mainly aimed this at the discussion about the content, not the form, of the tutorial (are the sentences clear enough, could certain things be explained better, etc.)<br>
<br>My intention is that this tutorial is used from Pippy in the same way the current examples are. The content of the tutorial (the pure text I've mailed to the list) would be wrapped in Python code so that it displays text one paragraph at the time, is interactive (the learned can type code and practice), offers the options to save progress, quit, continue etc. Since the code for that would look quite intimidating[1] to the learner, it would be hidden, most likely in /pippy/library/pippy/tutorial. The learner would directly use files in /pippy/data/tutorial, the same way the currect Python examples are used from Pippy. Those files (like this one [2]) would only have something like:<br>
<br>import lesson1<br>lesson1.run()<br># some comments on how to use the tutorial<br># and what can be learned from this lesson<br><br>There are also some notes in the materials which will not be something the learner will see; I've just marked places where I need to think more about something or where a prompt will be.<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jul 6, 2010 at 7:22 AM, Caryl Bigenho <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:cbigenho@hotmail.com">cbigenho@hotmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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Hello Dinko,<div><br></div><div>This is a nice project and I will take some time over the next week or 2 to look at it in detail. I notice a few "typos" that I can help with and will send them along later. However I do have a question and a couple of suggestions at this point after glancing at the download.</div>
</div></blockquote><div><br>I appreciate all the help I can get - even if it's about typos (in fact, I'm curious about where you found them, I had everything checked before I posted to the list). <br><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div><div>Question: Why are some sections unix files and others plain text? What are we supposed to open the unix files on? <br></div></div></blockquote><div><br>There's no such thing as a unix file - those are all just standard plain ASCII text files. In fact, all of them are in exactly the same format. I accidentally named some of those differently (.txt). You should have no problems opening them with your text editor.<br>
</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div></div><div><br></div><div>Suggestion: When a term is used in a Python tutorial do not assume your reader knows what it stands for or means. Keeping a glossary of terms will help teach the reader more than simple mysterious commands. For example the > and < signs could be explained (very young readers will not know these). Also the term "int." I assume it stands for "integer." If so, tell us somewhere that it does and what an integer is. If not... what does it represent? Is it just a variable that you picked? </div>
<div><br></div></div></blockquote><div><br>I see your point. A glossary is a good idea, I'll think of something. <br>However, there's one thing we should keep in mind. If there are readers which don't know that < and > mean "less" and "larger", are you sure they are of proper age to learn programming? While Sugar is for children from 6-12, I am aiming for the upper range of that age with my tutorial (they should learn how read first, won't they :) ). I keep that idea in mind when deciding if something is too advanced.<br>
<br>Regarding "int", I've mentioned that it is used to turn strings into a number. The concept of integer is quite an advanced mathematical concept. I do plan to talk a bit more about different number in later lessons, but I decided to keep it short for now since most of the kids probably won't know about decimal numbers so I didn't want to say "Look, int() gives you a whole number, and float() a floating point number, which is a way numbers can be binary represented... and we use that for decimal numbers..". In later lesson, I do plan to mention it, but give a link to Wikipeda article on floating point notation and say that they can read it there if they are interested, but that it's enough to know it represents decimal numbers (and also mention that they don't have to bother with it if they haven't learned decimal numbers in school yet). <br>
<br> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div></div><div>Suggestion: Large blocks of text are very intimidating. If you can break them up into smaller units (paragraphs) it will make it easier for the reader. </div>
</div></blockquote><div><br>I have that in mind. There will always be a "Press enter to continue" prompt after a block of text.<br> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div><div>Actually, it could also be helpful it the code part of your example was shown as you have it and the rest be in another font it will help the reader. <br></div></div></blockquote><div><br>Well, if the tutorial was to be published on a website or in a book, sure. However, it will be in a Python script <br>
</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div></div><div><div><br></div><div>I'm glad you have this project underway. It will be very useful. When it is finished, we will need to get some people to translate it into other languages as well so OLPC users all over the world can enjoy using it.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Caryl (aka SweetXOGrannie)</div></div></div></blockquote><div><br><br>[1] <a href="http://git.sugarlabs.org/projects/pippy/repos/dgaletic-gsoc2010/blobs/master/library/introduction.py">http://git.sugarlabs.org/projects/pippy/repos/dgaletic-gsoc2010/blobs/master/library/introduction.py</a> <br>
[2] <a href="http://git.sugarlabs.org/projects/pippy/repos/dgaletic-gsoc2010/blobs/master/data/tutorial/Introduction">http://git.sugarlabs.org/projects/pippy/repos/dgaletic-gsoc2010/blobs/master/data/tutorial/Introduction</a><br>
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