Six Python Tips for Beginners

I recently published an article Python Tips for Beginners that covers these concepts:

1. *args and **kwargs
2. list comprehensions
3. f strings
4. lambda functions
5. decorator functions

I've been teaching my daughter Django as well as JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and bootstrap.  Django is really awesome for creating interactive web sites quickly.

Overcoming JavaScript "this" keyword confusion

The use of the this keyword in JavaScript is confusing. It is not the same as the self variable in Python.

Children can generally get through basic objects and methods in Python and be able to use self.

However, the "this" keyword in JavaScript depends on the way the this keyword is used.

In most cases, the "this" keyword will refer to the object that calls the function/method that the "this" keyword is used in. Wow, that sounds horribly confusing.

Let's break it down.

• There are different methods within a single object. 
• One method is called, "preload". 
• One method is called, "create".
• To use a variable in both "preload" and "create", I use the word, "this" in front of the variable name.

This is overly simplified, but for a child, I'm focusing on the most common usage.

Problem

The problem at the top of article occurs when you try to use a "this" keyword variable inside of a nested function. The variable "animals" is inside of an anonymous function called by the method forEach(). Oh, no!  This will break the simple explanation of the use of "this".

I explain that "this" only works within a small area, like a shop within a town. As soon as another function is put between the "this.variable" and the top method "create()", you'll have to use some funky techniques to access the variable. 

I'm not sure if the technique at the top of the screen is a best practice or not, but it works and might be a "good-enough" technique for lessons. The code snippet and technique of assigning "this" to "self" are from a mobile game course by Pablo Farias.

Why Python and Pygame Are Perfect for Beginning Programmers

I published an article on opensource.com explaining why you should start with Pygame and Python instead of JavaScript and Phaser.

After six years of teaching my kids Python and Pygame, I've been teaching my daughter JavaScript and Phaser for six months. I have real-world observations of how pre-teen children learn, encounter problems, and overcome problems with both Python and JavaScript.

If you're teaching your kids programming or are considering learning Python or JavaScript yourself, consider reading the article.

Computer Programming Courses for Middle School Children

As my daughter is in middle school, I recently reviewed courses designed for middle school children. Eight years ago, there was limited curriculum for middle school children.

Today, there is a wealth of curriculum. Instead of developing your own curriculum, I suggest using existing curriculum that a professional has built. code.org has a good list of curriculum for middle school kids. Although I'm not using the curriculum on any of the lists, the offering at CodeHS looks interesting. There are introductory courses for both Python and JavaScript. The JavaScript course is designed for 9th graders.

Pythonroom also looks promising. The video looks like they have a great vision, but I'm a bit concerned that they have 5 thumbs up and 2 thumbs down at the time I looked at it.

I'm still experimenting with different mixtures of Python and JavaScript. I recommend starting with Python as it is easier and the structure helps with learning. My daughter also feels that Python is easier than JavaScript.

If Python is better for learning and teaching, why I am teaching her JavaScript? Well, JavaScript is everywhere. It's used to quickly distribute web applications, build mobile applications with PhoneGap and build server applications with node.

Here's what I ended up doing:

1. started with Python and Pygame using my drills and used the drills for a month
2. taught HTML, CSS, and basic JavaScript, including JQuery for about a month. Not using any type of graphical animation such as HTML canvas or any framework
3. Used the JavaScript game development framework Phaser for a month, including the Making your first Phaser game tutorial
4. went back to Python and Pygame for another few months and used RAPT Pygame to run the apps on a mobile phone
5. went back to using JavaScript canvas for a month, which is where I am right now. I'm planning to go back to Phaser in about 2 to 4 weeks.

Examples from Lessons

This game was built entirely in Python and uses RAPT Pygame to run it on an Android mobile phone. It's running on a Moto G 3rd generation. Age 12.
Teaching objective: loops and game levels

The test below was made with Unity and some pictures she took at the local Stanford museum.
Teaching objective: 360 image photography and basic 3d asset usage

This one is done entirely in Python. Age 12.
Teaching objective: association of attributes for an object. Did not actually use objects.

This is another Pygame example. Age 12.

Teaching objective: if statements

This one is done in JavaScript.
Teaching objective: Use of arrays.

Phaser Girl JavaScript Lessons For a Middle School Girl

I'm working with girl coder on new drills based on Phaser and JavaScript. In each lesson, I sit by coder girl and watch her type in the same drill 10 times.

The philosophy for Phaser Girl is to take the simplest possible code snippet and build from there. Programming concepts are not explained until after the drills are started.  The idea is to dive in, start typing, and the concepts will arise over time.

This structure came from watching my son learn karate. Since his dojo (classroom) was 25 minutes away, I would often stay in the dojo and watch the class.

There are three components to teach kids karate:

1. kihon (fundamental: punch, kick, block)
2. kata (form: collection of kihon)
3. kumite (sparring: application of kihon and kata)

For Phaser Girl, the equivalent is:

1. syntax: conditionals, loops, variable assignment
2. drills: the basis of Phaser Girl
3. projects

Within this framework, I focus on drills. The syntax emerges from the drills.

Repetition

I originally started with a target of 5 reps. During the first lesson, Blank Screen, I increased the target repetition to 10. The objective is for coder girl to be able to go through the drill without looking at reference material and without encountering a syntax error by rep 8.

By drill 6, Cursors, each rep was taking 5 minutes, pushing the total lesson time to 70 minutes. I gave coder girl a 5 minute break after rep 5.

Practical Application (kumite) Example

Level 1, simple project. 40 lines of code total.

Drill (kata) Example

Fundamental (kihon) Example

Get Phaser Girl now

Komodo vs. PyCharm - Teenager Reviews Two Famous Python IDEs

by Kai of Palo Alto High School
As a fifteen-year old novice programmer who codes in Python, I tested two different editors, PyCharm Professional and the new Komodo IDE 9 that was just released.

When I first opened up PyCharm, I felt like it provides the maximum amount of features from the start. Initially, the crowded menu and taskbar were too much of a distraction as I could not figure out what many of the options actually did.  I liked that PyCharm gives me the ability to see the file path of the program I am editing. This is useful when I edit multiple programs at once, as it is easy to quickly distinguish one program from another. 

The other tools worked well and the ability to access old variables when writing new code is nice. My first impression of PyCharm was that it tried to be too versatile and sacrificed usability in the process.

When I opened up Komodo the first thing I noticed was the elegant presentation. The editor relies on alternating color schemes to make text easy to read. The entire window is taken up by the code you are editing. Additionally, the menu consisted of simple icons and pop-up menu’s that made editing and running my program a easy task.

A nice feature is that Komodo lets you know which function you are editing, a feature that would be nice to have in PyCharm. Two arrows at the top of the page allow you to revisit code you were previously editing.

This functionality is extremely helpful for longer pieces of code. Unfortunately, the icon based menu occasionally made it difficult to find what I are looking for. For example, I wanted the command to comment out a section of my code. Usually, it would be housed under the section of the menu called “Edit”. With Komodo there is no such section. Therefore, one either has to reference the “Search” function or have previous knowledge of the command in order to use Komodo effectively. Ultimately, Komodo 9 is a more efficient editor than PyCharm, but is held back by an icon-heavy menu.

4th Grade Girl Python Coder - Tiled Map Creation

As fathers and mothers, we protect our children from disappointment.  In our quest to shield them from failure, we expect too little from them.  Every week, I am amazed by an ordinary 9 year old girl, banging out Python code in PyCharm from a blank screen.  Girl Coder represents one possible future of America.  Although in 20 years, she may be a baker, ballerina, housewife, or teacher, today she is a coder.

For many years, I had under the mistaken impression that kids under age 12 could not learn to program effectively.  I was wrong.  They can do it.  I made many mistakes as a parent-as-teacher with my first child.   The breakthrough insight for me came when I realized that almost all the books and curriculum out there was designed for adults.  At the time, back in 2011, most of the curriculum for children was still based on Java.  The bigger problem was that the curriculum was designed for adults, not children.  

Today, is just another Saturday stay-at-home morning for Girl Coder, age 9.  No surfing today as her brother took off to Tahoe for snowboarding and we decided to relax indoors for a change.  Piano and Python got her attention, not necessarily in that order.  :-)

She built a tile map using Tiled today.  She then used PyCharm to write a Pygame program to move a  girl around a map. This is a modification of PyChildren Lesson 3, The Moving Square.



The first step to make the lesson easier for young children is to use Tiled to output a png file instead of a TMX or JSON file.  In this game, she is using one large image as the entire map.  By using an image instead of JSON or TMX data, we don't have to parse the data.  Girl Coder uses Tiled like a paint program.  She likes the stamps and bucket fills.  Within about 20 minutes, kids can build a pretty snazzy looking map for their games.

The modification to lesson 3 starts off pretty simply.  For this lesson, the girl stays in the center of the screen.  The map moves.   The first tricky part is that she needed to move the map to the left in order to move the girl to the right.   That's not too bad since you can immediately test and see that the girl is moving in the wrong direction and just change things from addition to subtraction.

The goal is to get the girl to appear to move to the right.

In order to do this, the girl remains stationary and the map moves to the left.

In order to move an image to the left, subtract 1 from the x-axis.

At this stage, I'm not sure if she understands the concept of moving the map to the left to get the girl to appear to be moving to the right.  I think it's okay if she doesn't get it.  I'll plan on going through the map lesson again from the beginning and have her implement bounds detection.  She's developing a story with the map.  There are scary places and places with treasure.

The sequence for this lesson.

1. Blank Screen
2. Stationary Square
1. Modify lesson to blit the background map to the screen
3. Moving Square
1. Modify lesson to move the map around instead of the player
4. Keyboard Input
1. Using the keyboard instead of the touchscreen

At this stage you can stop.  it's cool to see the character move around a map that the child made.  it is somewhat unsettling to not have bounds detection and run out of map.   Since Girl Coder has completed this same drill a number of times, I added bounds detection to the lesson.

Challenge of Bounds Detection

The main challenge with the lesson is how to get the girl to stay on the screen.  To prevent the girl from moving left, it is relatively easy.  Remember, to give the appearance that she's moving left, you're moving the map to the right.  You move things to the right by adding 1 to the x coordinate.  If you name the x coordinate map_x, then you move the character to the right by adding 1 every time through the loop.  

So, what number does map_x need to be less than?  Well, if you started map_x at 0, then when you moved the map to left, you subtracted 1 every time through the loop.  map_x then existed only as a negative number.  As long as map_x is less than zero, you can add one to it.  As soon as the number gets to zero, stop adding numbers to it.

As this is confusing, let's look at the code.

The size of the map is 1216 pixels by 826 pixels. The size of the Pygame window that the game is played in is 480 by 320.  You'll need to help the child with this section.
Here's the entire code listing.

Read Previous Adventures of Girl Coder

Other Options If You Can't Teach Your Own Kids

My daughter also takes classes at LearningTech.org in Palo Alto.  The class is great.  It's run by Dr. Mark Miller and Dr. Len Erickson.  There are two levels, grades 1-3 and grades 4-5.  You may wonder if a 2nd grader can code.  Can they even type?  Yes, they can.  

At the beginning of 2015, it's more common to teach children to program.  The curriculum at LearningTech.org is great.  It resembles my PyChildren curriculum, though my curriculum is designed for one-to-one teaching.  I'm not sure which method is more effective for teaching, but the PyChildren method is designed to bond your kids, not just to teach them programming.