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Re: [Phys-l] programming for kids



John Denker wrote:
Another physics connection is that you can easily implement cellular automaton
algorithms. (The gamemaker.nl site has a downloadable demo version of Conway's
game of life.) I haven't tried it, but I reckon this system would be pretty much
ideal for implementing things like the cellular relaxation-algorithm solution to
Laplace's equation (including multi-terminal capacitors) that I previously
implemented as a spreadsheet.
http://www.av8n.com/physics/laplace.html


I remember having an assignment just like this as an undergraduate, and the professor
forced us to use a spreadsheet. At the time, I was really annoyed, because I kept
thinking "I can write a more general, efficient, and faster program in Pascal" (the
language I used at the time). I found the spreadsheet method to be really clunky for
this application, although I can see the advantage when the students have no programming experience.

This semester, I am using with some of my honors students the language Python
(www.python.org). I've just started learning it myself, and it *is* a language
useful for prime-time, and some pretty big hitters use it (including NASA and
Google). There is a visual module for doing 3d graphics, and the vector ideas come
to play immediately. I have a student who has never done any programming running 3d
simulations of a falling cylinder. Another student is looking at fourier transforms
of ocean waves. I'll let you know how well it goes.

Python also has a very popular pygame module for making games. It is perhaps also
the easiest programming language I have ever seen, yet powerful enough to do real
numerical work. It's also free, and has a lot of user support. (and no, I don't
work for them. :) ).

I think programming is a great way to get students into some of the ideas of physics,
and using games and 3d visualizations really is a good hook.



bb

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bblais@bryant.edu
http://web.bryant.edu/~bblais