[sage-edu] Re: Sage academic setup experiences.
Hi Marhsall et al., On Thu, Dec 04, 2008 at 09:40:07AM -0800, mhampton wrote: > Having taught several classes using Sage, I highly recommend setting > up a server (or possibly more than one if you have a lot of > students). I tried setting up one sage instance per machine in a lab > with macs, and it was a real pain to administer. There are quite a > few advantages of having a small number of servers: I agree with this in your setting, but would like to give a parallel view in 1) the low-bandwidth and resource-starved developing world, and 2) certain class environments, e.g. ours where the students live-in, have no laptops, bandwidth. > 1) Remote access. In my experience students really like the option of > working outside of school, and being able to pick up where they left > off. Since we don't have a nice license for student copies of > mathematica, this is one area where students love Sage compared to > mathematica. We don't provide Mathematica. Partly because of our policy to work with Free Software, partly because it is too expensive -- we don't see the point of "demo", "student" versions, or "limited" licenses. Each students should be able to do all the work. In many places price is simply the limiting factor. Then SAGE is not a 'viable alternative', it's all that we have. > 2) Group work. If you have small groups they have share worksheets if > they are on the same server. It also makes it easy for students to > remotely ask questions, i.e. they can share their worksheet with you > and you can troubleshoot or help from the comfort of your home or > office :) Agreed. In our situation the students live-in, work in the lab 24 hours, as it is in teh same building as the accomodation, and bandwidth does not allow convenient remote sharing. Due to the campus growing (from one building to three) there is definitely room for 'remote' usage coming up. Those who do have a laptop (rare) can install sage. None of the machines in the institute run windows, and all student laptops dual boot windows/ubuntu. > 3) Easier to maintain. If you want to upgrade the sage version, its > much easier with 1-4 servers than a sage copy per machine. If you do not image your machines, you are already doing something wrong. It is easier for me to maintain one desktop image (I use systemimager, ghost and others do the same) rather than four servers. OK, so I'm the system admin not the maths lecturer, who may want to stay away from system admin, but then it may be good if you have a system admin to do this. Servers have to be backed up -- I have 100 client machines that are identical with central storage/passwords, so if one dies the functionality is not gone or 25% or 50% reduced. You just move to another PC. If it crashes, or there is a security problem, only one user is affected, and it is easily repaired too > 4) Might be faster than a VM version, although this of course depends > on hardware. > I run my sage servers off of an aging mac pro (quad core 2.66 GHz with > 8 GB of RAM) and a couple of linux (AMD quad-core) workstations which > are also about 2-3 years old. Each of those can handle about 20 > students with no problem. If the load is spread out (i.e. not > everyone in a lab at the same time) they could probably handle 30-40 > students each. The machine with the most RAM is 3GB file server. All desktops here have 512M. OK, they're all due for replacement next July, probably I can go for 4G per PC then. There aren't really "aging" machines lying around to be used that have > 512M RAM. Luckily one got stolen, and I can claim a new desktop in the meantime. A new intel board, duo core chip, 4G RAM box will do nicely as a SAGE server in the corner. (However, now I need backups again, but OK, RAID 1 and a sage data rsync to another box will do). If your 8G machines are not handling 30-40, well it bodes much better for me to stick to a sage instance on each machine, so that my 512M only has to deal with one user. If anyone wants to donate hardware or money to buy hardware for www.aims.ac.za, mail me off-list please :) I need $100,000 to upgrade all desktops for the next 4 years, $20,000 for servers, etc. etc. > One problem is that students tend to leave their worksheets running, > which starts eating into the RAM available. I should probably use the > "timeout" option in my notebooks, which would solve that problem. Avoided completely with sage instance per machine. Well, here we have the special case that the lab is large enough for a PC per student, so students just screen-lock their desktops anyway. Granted, some of it is a special case (live-in situation, easy secure lab access in the building), but the low resources (bandwidth, "aging" machines with 8GB RAM!!) are not a special case, that is the norm. In fact, what I have seen at departments across Africa is that the norm is no network storage (I don't call an icon in the corner of the screen network storage -- when the electricity fails,
[sage-edu] Re: slightly off-topic: sage coloring book
I am working on an edition with complete sage code for the figures. Unfortunately, this project started almost as a joke and I wasn't very organized about it at first, so it will take me a while to organize the code. Since its a low priority project for me even now, I am not sure how long it will take me to get it all together, probably between a few weeks and a few months. But I can certainly dig out the code for a particular figure if there is one that particularly interests you. -Marshall On Dec 4, 6:39 pm, "David Joyner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This is great Marshall! > > Do you have the Sage code to go along with the figures? > > On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 5:13 PM, mhampton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I've been working on a mathematical coloring book, with the pictures > > created using Sage. It still needs some work but I've put a > > preliminary version up at lulu.com: > > >http://www.lulu.com/content/4858716 > > > I am not making any money on it, the cost is what lulu.com charges to > > print it. I have also made the download freely available. I would > > appreciate feedback, especially from people with kids who try it out. > > > Eventually I hope to produce a nicer first edition with complete Sage > > source code included as an appendix. I am thinking of releasing that > > under a creative commons license, but I need to educate myself a > > little more about that and other options. > > > -Marshall Hampton --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-edu" group. To post to this group, send email to sage-edu@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-edu?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[sage-edu] Re: slightly off-topic: sage coloring book
On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 8:00 AM, mhampton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I am working on an edition with complete sage code for the figures. > Unfortunately, this project started almost as a joke and I wasn't very > organized about it at first, so it will take me a while to organize > the code. Since its a low priority project for me even now, I am not > sure how long it will take me to get it all together, probably between > a few weeks and a few months. But I can certainly dig out the code > for a particular figure if there is one that particularly interests > you. The Sierpinski gasket and the Koch snowflake, please:-) > > -Marshall > > On Dec 4, 6:39 pm, "David Joyner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> This is great Marshall! >> >> Do you have the Sage code to go along with the figures? >> >> On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 5:13 PM, mhampton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> > I've been working on a mathematical coloring book, with the pictures >> > created using Sage. It still needs some work but I've put a >> > preliminary version up at lulu.com: >> >> >http://www.lulu.com/content/4858716 >> >> > I am not making any money on it, the cost is what lulu.com charges to >> > print it. I have also made the download freely available. I would >> > appreciate feedback, especially from people with kids who try it out. >> >> > Eventually I hope to produce a nicer first edition with complete Sage >> > source code included as an appendix. I am thinking of releasing that >> > under a creative commons license, but I need to educate myself a >> > little more about that and other options. >> >> > -Marshall Hampton > > > --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-edu" group. To post to this group, send email to sage-edu@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-edu?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[sage-edu] Re: slightly off-topic: sage coloring book
On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 2:13 PM, mhampton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I've been working on a mathematical coloring book, with the pictures > created using Sage. It still needs some work but I've put a > preliminary version up at lulu.com: > > http://www.lulu.com/content/4858716 > > I am not making any money on it, the cost is what lulu.com charges to > print it. I have also made the download freely available. I would > appreciate feedback, especially from people with kids who try it out. > > Eventually I hope to produce a nicer first edition with complete Sage > source code included as an appendix. I am thinking of releasing that > under a creative commons license, but I need to educate myself a > little more about that and other options. This is very cool, great work! Looking forward to seeing the source code. -Alex > > -Marshall Hampton > > > -- Alex Clemesha clemesha.org --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-edu" group. To post to this group, send email to sage-edu@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-edu?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[sage-edu] Re: slightly off-topic: sage coloring book
This is great. Actually, you probably COULD make some money off this, based on what I see for sale at children's museums. I've already printed it out - my daughter loves to color, she might get this in her stocking. - kcrisman --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-edu" group. To post to this group, send email to sage-edu@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-edu?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[sage-edu] Re: Sage academic setup experiences.
> I agree with this in your setting, but would like to give a parallel > view in 1) the low-bandwidth and resource-starved developing world, > and 2) certain class environments, e.g. ours where the students live-in, > have no laptops, bandwidth. > Then SAGE is not a 'viable alternative', it's all that we have. Thank you so much for providing this viewpoint. I recently did an internal paper on some of the real reasons for using open-source (or not) in my own context, and I find the "cheap" argument alone too dominant; the wider populace (at least in the US) needs to understand that FOSS makes sense for a variety of reasons, but doesn't cost zero to implement and use - your time as IT manager costs something, right? Your description of a context where computing resources in general, not just money, are a big limiting factor is one that we need to hear. Do I hear another call for Sage lite? ;) - kcrisman --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-edu" group. To post to this group, send email to sage-edu@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-edu?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[sage-edu] Re: slightly off-topic: sage coloring book
Its been funny for me to think about the money aspect - not that I would expect to make much even in wildly best-case scenarios. I talked to my four-year-old daughter about it and she was appalled that I would sell it at cost, which I thought was funny and interesting, and it has made me reconsider somewhat. But I consider the present form to be a rough draft, and I'd rather keep the printed version as cheap as possible to get more feedback. -Marshall On Dec 5, 9:50 am, kcrisman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This is great. Actually, you probably COULD make some money off this, > based on what I see for sale at children's museums. I've already > printed it out - my daughter loves to color, she might get this in her > stocking. > > - kcrisman --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-edu" group. To post to this group, send email to sage-edu@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-edu?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[sage-edu] Re: slightly off-topic: sage coloring book
There's a nice Koch snowflake program in python on Wikipedia which is
cool because it makes a little LOGO-like turtle actually draw the
curve. I have a slight modification that I use occaisonally to
illustrate non-rectifiable curves:
{{{
import turtle
def draw_koch(n, track_length=False):
'''
Draws a Koch snowflake of depth n. Modified by Marshall Hampton
from code found on the wikipedia entry on the Koch curve.
EXAMPLE:
# The following commands should work from a python command-line
prompt.
from pykoch import *
turtle.up()
turtle.goto(-200,100) #so the snowflake fits; you might have to
modify that for your screen
draw_koch(5)
'''
turtle.down()
instruction_set = 'FRFRFR' # tells the turtle where to go: left,
right, or forward
length = 0.0 # for tracking the path length
for i in range(n):
instruction_set = instruction_set.replace("F","FLFRFLF")
for move in instruction_set:
if move is "F":
turtle.forward(100.0/3**(n-1))
if track_length: length += 100.0/3**(n-1)
if move is "L": turtle.left(60)
if move is "R": turtle.right(120)
if track_length: print "Total length at depth " + str(n) + " is: "
+ str(length)
}}}
To draw the figure in the book I hacked some code up that isn't quite
as nice, but it got the job done:
{{{
patd =
{'0':'0340','1':'1451','2':'2532','3':'3203','4':'4014','5':'5125'}
def koch(depth, cleared = False, scale = 1.0):
del0 = vector([1.0,0.0])*scale
del1 = vector([-.5,-0.8660254])*scale
del2 = vector([-.5,+.8660254])*scale
del3 = vector([.5,0.8660254])*scale
del4 = vector([.5,-.8660254])*scale
del5 = vector([-1.0,0.0])*scale
current = vector([-.5,0.8660254/3])*scale
path = '012'
klines = []
dlist = [del0,del1,del2,del3,del4, del5]
for q in range(depth):
sc = 3.0^(-q)
#current = current*sc
scdlist = [sc*x for x in dlist]
if cleared: klines = []
for x in path:
ind = ['0','1','2','3','4','5'].index(x)
deln = scdlist[ind]
klines.append(line([current, current+deln], rgbcolor =
(0,0,0)))
current = current + deln
newpath = ''
for x in path:
newpath = newpath + patd[x]
path = newpath
return klines
klinenest = []
circr =(.25+(.866/3.0)^2)^(.5)
circnest = []
for i in range(1,5):
iscale = (circr)^(4-i)
newk = sum(koch(i, cleared=True, scale = iscale))
klinenest.append(newk)
ncircr = circr*iscale
circnest.append(circle((0,0),ncircr, rgbcolor = (0,0,0)))
klinenest = sum(klinenest)
circnest = sum(circnest)
show(klinenest+circnest,axes = False, figsize = [6,6])
}}}
...I have no doubt that could be improved a lot.
For the Sierpinski triangle I did the following (again, its probably
not optimal):
{{{
nsq = n(3^(1/2))/2.0
tlist_old = [[[-1/2.0,0.0],[1/2.0,0.0],[0.0,nsq]]]
tlist_new = [x for x in tlist_old]
sierp = Graphics()
for ind in range(6):
for tri in tlist_old:
for p in tri:
new_tri = [[(p[0]+x[0])/2.0, (p[1]+x[1])/2.0] for x in
tri]
tlist_new.append(new_tri)
tlist_old = [x for x in tlist_new]
q = sum([line(x+[x[0]], rgbcolor = (0,0,0)) for x in tlist_old])
show(q, figsize = [6,6*nsq], axes = False)
}}}
Cheers,
Marshall
On Dec 5, 7:26 am, "David Joyner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 8:00 AM, mhampton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > I am working on an edition with complete sage code for the figures.
> > Unfortunately, this project started almost as a joke and I wasn't very
> > organized about it at first, so it will take me a while to organize
> > the code. Since its a low priority project for me even now, I am not
> > sure how long it will take me to get it all together, probably between
> > a few weeks and a few months. But I can certainly dig out the code
> > for a particular figure if there is one that particularly interests
> > you.
>
> The Sierpinski gasket and the Koch snowflake, please:-)
>
>
>
> > -Marshall
>
> > On Dec 4, 6:39 pm, "David Joyner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >> This is great Marshall!
>
> >> Do you have the Sage code to go along with the figures?
>
> >> On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 5:13 PM, mhampton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> >> > I've been working on a mathematical coloring book, with the pictures
> >> > created using Sage. It still needs some work but I've put a
> >> > preliminary version up at lulu.com:
>
> >> >http://www.lulu.com/content/4858716
>
> >> > I am not making any money on it, the cost is what lulu.com charges to
> >> > print it. I have also made the download freely available. I would
> >> > appreciate feedback, especially from people with kids who try it out.
>
> >> > Eventually I hope to produce a nicer first edition with complete Sage
> >> > source code included as an appendix. I am thinking of releasing that
> >> > under a creative commons license, but I need to educat
[sage-edu] Re: Other things which could be included for Sage
I'm just forwarding this to sage-edu because I think that's really where the discussion belongs (although there is some overlap). I would be interested in discussing this at the joint meetings as well. -Marshall On Dec 5, 11:42 am, kcrisman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On a related note, for those who remember the Connected Curriculum > Project at Duke and/or Project Calc, the PIs from that have a new (and > nice) online text for calculus from a diffeq perspective, and are > explicitly asking for: > > Additional CAS Options. Currently the activities, checkpoints, and > exercises are supported (where necessary) by Maple, Mathcad, and > Mathematica worksheets. We welcome volunteers to write comparable > worksheets for other systems, such as Matlab. The worksheets are quite > elementary -- HTML "before" and "after" versions are available -- so > this would not involve a great deal of work. > > Any thoughts? Seems like a good opportunity, though probably time- > consuming. I may contact the authors myself, or talk to them at JMM, > since I have worked with them a little before. > Seehttp://www.math.duke.edu/education/calculustext/ > > - kcrisman --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-edu" group. To post to this group, send email to sage-edu@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-edu?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[sage-edu] Re: slightly off-topic: sage coloring book
Feel free to add it to wiki. Any code I post I consider "freed",
which I know is not legally precise. Consider any post by me to sage-
* licensed as creative commons, attribution share-alike.
Cheers,
Marshall
On Dec 5, 5:11 pm, "David Joyner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I fiddled with your Sierpinski code (see attached) and loaded it into GIMP and
> fiddled some more.
>
> Maybe some sort of copyright+license should be choosen for your code?
> Marshall, can I add this to the wiki?
>
> On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 12:15 PM, mhampton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > There's a nice Koch snowflake program in python on Wikipedia which is
> > cool because it makes a little LOGO-like turtle actually draw the
> > curve. I have a slight modification that I use occaisonally to
> > illustrate non-rectifiable curves:
>
> > {{{
> > import turtle
>
> > def draw_koch(n, track_length=False):
> >'''
> >Draws a Koch snowflake of depth n. Modified by Marshall Hampton
> > from code found on the wikipedia entry on the Koch curve.
>
> >EXAMPLE:
> ># The following commands should work from a python command-line
> > prompt.
> >from pykoch import *
> >turtle.up()
> >turtle.goto(-200,100) #so the snowflake fits; you might have to
> > modify that for your screen
> >draw_koch(5)
> >'''
> >turtle.down()
> >instruction_set = 'FRFRFR' # tells the turtle where to go: left,
> > right, or forward
> >length = 0.0 # for tracking the path length
> >for i in range(n):
> >instruction_set = instruction_set.replace("F","FLFRFLF")
> >for move in instruction_set:
> >if move is "F":
> >turtle.forward(100.0/3**(n-1))
> >if track_length: length += 100.0/3**(n-1)
> >if move is "L": turtle.left(60)
> >if move is "R": turtle.right(120)
> >if track_length: print "Total length at depth " + str(n) + " is: "
> > + str(length)
> > }}}
>
> > To draw the figure in the book I hacked some code up that isn't quite
> > as nice, but it got the job done:
>
> > {{{
> > patd =
> > {'0':'0340','1':'1451','2':'2532','3':'3203','4':'4014','5':'5125'}
> > def koch(depth, cleared = False, scale = 1.0):
> >del0 = vector([1.0,0.0])*scale
> >del1 = vector([-.5,-0.8660254])*scale
> >del2 = vector([-.5,+.8660254])*scale
> >del3 = vector([.5,0.8660254])*scale
> >del4 = vector([.5,-.8660254])*scale
> >del5 = vector([-1.0,0.0])*scale
> >current = vector([-.5,0.8660254/3])*scale
> >path = '012'
> >klines = []
> >dlist = [del0,del1,del2,del3,del4, del5]
> >for q in range(depth):
> >sc = 3.0^(-q)
> >#current = current*sc
> >scdlist = [sc*x for x in dlist]
> >if cleared: klines = []
> >for x in path:
> >ind = ['0','1','2','3','4','5'].index(x)
> >deln = scdlist[ind]
> >klines.append(line([current, current+deln], rgbcolor =
> > (0,0,0)))
> >current = current + deln
> >newpath = ''
> >for x in path:
> >newpath = newpath + patd[x]
> >path = newpath
> >return klines
> > klinenest = []
> > circr =(.25+(.866/3.0)^2)^(.5)
> > circnest = []
> > for i in range(1,5):
> >iscale = (circr)^(4-i)
> >newk = sum(koch(i, cleared=True, scale = iscale))
> >klinenest.append(newk)
> >ncircr = circr*iscale
> >circnest.append(circle((0,0),ncircr, rgbcolor = (0,0,0)))
> > klinenest = sum(klinenest)
> > circnest = sum(circnest)
> > show(klinenest+circnest,axes = False, figsize = [6,6])
> > }}}
>
> > ...I have no doubt that could be improved a lot.
>
> > For the Sierpinski triangle I did the following (again, its probably
> > not optimal):
>
> > {{{
> > nsq = n(3^(1/2))/2.0
> > tlist_old = [[[-1/2.0,0.0],[1/2.0,0.0],[0.0,nsq]]]
> > tlist_new = [x for x in tlist_old]
> > sierp = Graphics()
> > for ind in range(6):
> >for tri in tlist_old:
> >for p in tri:
> >new_tri = [[(p[0]+x[0])/2.0, (p[1]+x[1])/2.0] for x in
> > tri]
> >tlist_new.append(new_tri)
> >tlist_old = [x for x in tlist_new]
> > q = sum([line(x+[x[0]], rgbcolor = (0,0,0)) for x in tlist_old])
> > show(q, figsize = [6,6*nsq], axes = False)
> > }}}
>
> > Cheers,
> > Marshall
>
> > On Dec 5, 7:26 am, "David Joyner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >> On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 8:00 AM, mhampton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> >> > I am working on an edition with complete sage code for the figures.
> >> > Unfortunately, this project started almost as a joke and I wasn't very
> >> > organized about it at first, so it will take me a while to organize
> >> > the code. Since its a low priority project for me even now, I am not
> >> > sure how long it will take me to get it all together, probably between
> >> > a few weeks and a few months. But I can certainly dig out the code
> >> > for a particular figure if there is one that particularly interests
> >> > you.
>
> >> The Sierpinski gasket and the Koch snowf
[sage-edu] Re: slightly off-topic: sage coloring book
On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 9:01 PM, mhampton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Feel free to add it to wiki. Any code I post I consider "freed", > which I know is not legally precise. Consider any post by me to sage- > * licensed as creative commons, attribution share-alike. Thanks. It's added to the bottom of http://wiki.sagemath.org/pics > > Cheers, > Marshall > > On Dec 5, 5:11 pm, "David Joyner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> I fiddled with your Sierpinski code (see attached) and loaded it into GIMP >> and >> fiddled some more. >> >> Maybe some sort of copyright+license should be choosen for your code? >> Marshall, can I add this to the wiki? > > > --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-edu" group. To post to this group, send email to sage-edu@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-edu?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
