Still working on automation because iMacros free doesn’t allow for uploads, nor do they take partial code that doesn’t change every week and inserts the | The Mouse vs The Python code after the part that stays constant. Or at least I haven’t figured it out yet. Plus working on other tricks as well.
This week we welcome Peter Farrell (@hackingmath) as our PyDev of the Week! Peter is the author Math Adventures with Python and two other math-related Python books. You can learn more about Peter by visiting his website.
Let’s take a few moments to get to know Peter!
Can you tell us a little about yourself (hobbies, education, etc):
I was brought up in the US, earned a B.A. in Math and taught Math for 8 years in big and small schools. I always wanted to show students the real-world applications of the stuff they were learning, all of which turned out to be computer-related. I learned to program in my 30’s in Logo by going page-by-page through Samuel Papert’s brilliant book Mindstorms. After that, I taught all my math classes turtle programming. A student turned me on to Python and I never looked back. Away from the computer, I like to play guitar and watch documentaries.
How did you end up writing a book on Python?
I was working one-on-one teaching high school math to a techy student who had learned Python. On top of the good old-fashioned book work, I assigned him programming challenges to automate whatever repetitive task had popped up in the week’s material, like finding the vertex of a parabola or the centroid of a triangle. Eventually, I collected the explorations together into a book and self-published Hacking Math Class with Python in 2015. That got me noticed by No Starch Press and for 2 years we worked on the next level, going further into supercharging math explorations traditional and modern with Python and Processing. Math Adventures with Python was just published in January of this year.
Do you know any other programming languages?
Not to the level that I know Python, but I’ve done quite a bit of generative art in Processing’s other modes, like Java and Javascript, since I think mine was only the second book on Processing using the Python mode. I’ve dabbled in Rust for better speed thanks to my friend Paddy Gaunt, who also acted as Technical Editor on my book. And the terrific music coding package Sonic Pi introduced me to Ruby…
Thanks for doing the interview, Peter!
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