= Event =

Open Tech School Meetup
"Programming with Python"
on 2013-02-23 14-19h
at ImmobilienScout, Berlin.

feedback typed by Sven Guckes, python@guckes.net

this page:
http://www.guckes.net/python/OTSpython.2013-02-23.txt

tutorial:
http://is.gd/OTSpython -->
https://github.com/OpenTechSchool/python-beginners/

Sven's resulting script:
http://www.guckes.net/python/sven-n-gon.py

Latest change: Sun Feb 24 00:08:42 CET 2013

= Overview =

timing:     it started punctually at 14h.  and it ended before 19h.
people:     10 tutors, 32 participants. so: 42 people (yay!)
rooms:      good!  good tables, good chairs. warm and cozy. clean!
beverages:  water.  (tell people to bring their own bottle! :-)
internet:   ouch.  could have been better.  how about some cable with DHCP?
power:      some outlets are in the floor.  no power strips, though.
utils:      some paper and pens provided.  still, bring some yourself!

= start =

so i am using an acer aspire netbook, running
ubuntu 12.10 (a variant of debian linux).
i connected to the "guest" network, 
and fired up my webbrowser (firefox).
i entered some request with the google search
and sure enough i got a splash page where i entered
the username+passwordd i was given on a piece of paper.

however, the server (weird hostname there) was not always working.
it did not give you a DNS setup;
no content for /etc/resolv.conf -
no entries for either "nameserver" or "search".
but then remember the IT default question -
"have you tried turning it off and on again?" -
and, no, i didnt turn the system off&on again,
but disconnected from the wifi, and tried it again.
eventually, it did work.

i used "mtr" to monitor the connection outside
to the server i use (it uses "ping" basically),
and saw that there was hardly any throughput.
ah, well, it's a wifi, right?
("the best wifi connection is *cable*..." ;-)

still, some data did come through, so i used
the http://is.gd/OTSpython link to look at
the tutorial.  wish i had seen this earlier.
i kinda like looking through such texts
beforehand, at home, with milk+cookies.

i learned we will be using "turtle graphics".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_graphics
oh, the memories!  (yes, i'm getting old...)

so it turns out that python on ubuntu
does *not* come with package python-tk.  duh!

so i ran the obvious command to install it:
    $ sudo apt-get install python-tk

but it didnt work. so the next obvious thing
to do is to update the database on packages:
    $ sudo apt-get update

however, at the *last* hostname, it failed.
thus the list was inconsistent, and
the installaation failed in the end.
so.. no turtle, no fun for me. :-/

as the bandwidth was quite low,
i decided not to look at the error
message and try to resolve all this.
instead, i declared this as homework.

= neighbors =

so i leaned over to the folks at my table
and took a look at their typing and testing.
(am i really the only guy without a mac?)

= problems =

as usual, there is a little bit of confusion
as to where one is.. within a terminal or
a shell?  within the python interpreter?

the turtle just looks like a boring cursor -
but it can be given the looks of a turtle.

the turtle runs pretty low speed, so
you can actually see doing its thing.
but it can be sped up with a command.

once the turtle is done, the canvas window
disappears.  another command make it wait for
the user to click into it to make it go away.

however, the canvas window always had the same size,
was opened right in the middle of the desktop, and
was usually hidden by another window.
so every time you start this turtle thing,
you begin with moving the canvas window
to the top, and to the top left, leaving
some space for the window with the editor.
this really cost some time.  meh!

i wish i knew how to tell python to open up
the canvas to the top left, and maybe with
a given size of pixels of height+width.

why didnt i ask the tutors about that?
err... i forgot. really.  o_O

= =

later on, Benjamin Kampmann gave me his
mac to play with.  thanks for that! :-)

had some fun writing my script with vim
(of course. what else would you use?!?)
and let the turtle dash about the screen..

the use of variables, loops, and functions
makes it really interesting..
together with some change of color and
some input from the user completed the
thing for me.  "run, turtle, run!"

= summary =

good place, helpful people.

there have been 10 tutors for ~30 people.
that's plenty.  and plenty is good. :-)

turtle graphics have been nice before -
and they are nice to use yet again
(after all those years...)

going at your own pace, and always
having the possibility to summon one
of the tutors and asking for help
kinda appeals to me.

i definitely enjoyed this.
and i am hoping for more.

reminder to myself:
i completely forgot to introduce myself
to others and ask for their names. oops!

= typos =

typos in the documentation/tutorial:
identation -> indentation

= next meetup =

preparation for participants:
read the tutorial at http://is.gd/OTSpython
install missing packages. (which?)

download it all as an archive. is there one? url?
oh, wait.. it's on github.com!
so you should be able to not only download it,
but also to improve the local copy, and
then upload your improved version!  :-)

bring your laptop/netbook and a power strip,
possible a cable for internet, too.
bring your own beverages and food,
and some paper and pens.
maybe have a dinner meetup after?

when+where will be the next meetup?
will it be at the same place?
will there be more internet? ^^

intro and announcements: please speak louder. :)

EOF