Tutor@python.org: "I'm a computer science tutor and I'm asking advice about a graphics or game library that can be used with Python effectively for teaching purposes."
Michael Dawson's "Python Programming for Absolute Beginners" uses PyGame. Might be worth a look. On Fri, Dec 21, 2018 at 3:26 AM Michael Mossey <michaelmos...@gmail.com> wrote: > I'm a computer science tutor and I'm asking advice about a graphics or game > library that can be used with Python effectively for teaching purposes. > > I've found that having my student pick a long-term project is a good way > for them to learn coding, and graphics or games make great projects that > both have stimulating results and bring computer-science-y topics into the > mix (i.e. they are natural vehicles for OO, data structures, and > algorithms). > > There are two sub-topics I'm interested in - (1) graphics, as in drawing > interesting pictures or art, or using diagrams for data visualization. (2) > Simple games, with the use of sprites. > > I've been using PyGame, but I'm not happy with it. It's not very well > organized or documented, and not very capable of general graphics. > > So I'm looking into a few other possibilities. No library can be everything > to everyone, but I'd like something that gives students exposure to a > variety of programming tasks, like constructing GUIs, events and event > loops, and 2-D graphics via stroking and filling common polygon shapes and > Bezier curves. (3D is not necessary for now.) > > Here are some alternatives to PyGame: > > - Pyglet. Doesn't look promising. I'm mainly interested in 2D, and I don't > see common data visualization tasks provided like filling and stroking > Bezier curve shapes (maybe I'm missing something). > > - Cairo. Looks great for static 2D graphics, but not games .. again maybe > I'm missing something. > > - Cocos2D. Good for games but not necessary general 2D graphics. > > - PyQt. I used this extensively at my last regular desk job many years ago, > and if I recall it has the QCanvas element with pretty deep graphics > ability and also event handling. It has collision detection too, I think, > allowing for easy 2D game writing. > > It looks to me like PyQt is the most capable program and most related to > what I want to do, but one thing I'm wondering about is how widely its used > and whether it would be good exposure for students to connect them to the > wider world of computing they will someday enter. > > Any thoughts would be appreciated. > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org > To unsubscribe or change subscription options: > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor > -- Frank L. "Cranky Frankie" Palmeri, Risible Riding Raconteur & Writer "If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." - Cicero _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
