issue71:critique_litteraire
Différences
Ci-dessous, les différences entre deux révisions de la page.
Prochaine révision | Révision précédente | ||
issue71:critique_litteraire [2013/03/30 15:33] – créée andre_domenech | issue71:critique_litteraire [2013/06/24 22:33] (Version actuelle) – enfuit -> enfuie des->parmi diogene | ||
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- | + | **Publisher: No Starch Press | |
- | Publisher: No Starch Press | + | |
Pages: 318 | Pages: 318 | ||
Ideal For: Anyone with an interest in programming, | Ideal For: Anyone with an interest in programming, | ||
Ligne 9: | Ligne 9: | ||
Very, it turns out. Even the most basic concepts in programming (functions, for example), require careful explanations that nest comfortably within one another like coded Matryoshka dolls. Leave out one of the dolls and you have an incomplete arrangement and, likely, a non-working program. | Very, it turns out. Even the most basic concepts in programming (functions, for example), require careful explanations that nest comfortably within one another like coded Matryoshka dolls. Leave out one of the dolls and you have an incomplete arrangement and, likely, a non-working program. | ||
- | Now imagine scaling that complexity down so that a child or, say, yours truly can understand it. Now you’re talking orders of magnitude harder than simply teaching someone how to code. Not only do you have to explain non-intuitive concepts carefully, you also have to do it in an entertaining way. It’s like a pediatric dentist who dresses like a clown to keep her patient from running away in tears at the first sound of drilling. | + | Now imagine scaling that complexity down so that a child or, say, yours truly can understand it. Now you’re talking orders of magnitude harder than simply teaching someone how to code. Not only do you have to explain non-intuitive concepts carefully, you also have to do it in an entertaining way. It’s like a pediatric dentist who dresses like a clown to keep her patient from running away in tears at the first sound of drilling.** |
- | Cavity prone kids have Dr. Funny Tooth, and kids interested in programming have No Starch Press. Python for Kids basically dresses up the complexities of programming in a fun package, and tries to keep things light, while still working toward a functional program. | + | Éditeur : No Starch Press |
+ | Pages : 318 | ||
+ | Pour : Quiconque s' | ||
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+ | Écrire un livre pour apprendre à programmer doit certainement être ardu. La plupart des gens pensent qu'ils savent ce que c'est que de programmer, non ? Vous saisissez un peu de code bizarroïde qui indique à votre ordinateur ce qu'il va faire et, voilà, Skyrim ! Est-ce vraiment difficile ? | ||
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+ | Il s' | ||
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+ | Imaginez maintenant de réduire cette complexité afin qu'un enfant ou, disons, moi-même puisse la comprendre. Et là, la difficulté s' | ||
+ | ===== 2 ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Cavity prone kids have Dr. Funny Tooth, and kids interested in programming have No Starch Press. Python for Kids basically dresses up the complexities of programming in a fun package, and tries to keep things light, while still working toward a functional program. | ||
I am clearly the right demographic for this book. I’m not a kid, but I pretty much eat like a teenager, so it’s almost the same thing. Plus, I have no working knowledge of programming, | I am clearly the right demographic for this book. I’m not a kid, but I pretty much eat like a teenager, so it’s almost the same thing. Plus, I have no working knowledge of programming, | ||
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The first thing I learned from this book was that Python was named after Monty Python, the English comedy troupe. If that’s all I’d learned then the book would be worth its cover price, because I LOVE Monty Python. But the learning continued, mostly because the book is well-written, | The first thing I learned from this book was that Python was named after Monty Python, the English comedy troupe. If that’s all I’d learned then the book would be worth its cover price, because I LOVE Monty Python. But the learning continued, mostly because the book is well-written, | ||
- | Installing Python for use with the book seems like it would be very straightforward. I say seems because Python came pre-installed in desktop Ubuntu. Woohoo, I’m a programmer already! | + | Installing Python for use with the book seems like it would be very straightforward. I say seems because Python came pre-installed in desktop Ubuntu. Woohoo, I’m a programmer already!** |
- | For non-Ubuntu platforms, the book offers clear installation instructions along with screen caps. Another point for No Starch: the screen caps in each chapter typically looked exactly like what I was seeing on my screen. It’s a small thing, but I always hate it when you have to take a moment to make sure you didn’t do something wrong because your picture doesn’t match up with what’s in the book. | + | Les gosses dont les dents sont sujettes aux caries ont le docteur Dent amusant et les gosses qui sont intéressés par la programmation ont No Starch Press. Essentiellement, |
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+ | Il est clair que je suis une bonne cible pour ce livre. Je ne suis pas un gosse, mais je mange grosso modo comme un adolescent, ce qui est à peu près la même chose. En outre, je n'ai pas de connaissances pratiques de la programmation, | ||
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+ | La première chose que j'ai apprise de ce livre était que le Python doit son nom aux Monty Python, l' | ||
+ | |||
+ | L' | ||
+ | ===== 3 ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **For non-Ubuntu platforms, the book offers clear installation instructions along with screen caps. Another point for No Starch: the screen caps in each chapter typically looked exactly like what I was seeing on my screen. It’s a small thing, but I always hate it when you have to take a moment to make sure you didn’t do something wrong because your picture doesn’t match up with what’s in the book. | ||
I also had to install the latest version of Idle (which allows you to run Python programs) and that took about 3 seconds. What is taking so long?! Kidding. | I also had to install the latest version of Idle (which allows you to run Python programs) and that took about 3 seconds. What is taking so long?! Kidding. | ||
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After installing Idle and running through the first few chapters, I had my first “Hello World” moment finished in under 5 minutes. Not bad, especially when you consider the attention span of the average kid, which is on par with the attention span of the average door knob. Source: I’m the father of two kids. | After installing Idle and running through the first few chapters, I had my first “Hello World” moment finished in under 5 minutes. Not bad, especially when you consider the attention span of the average kid, which is on par with the attention span of the average door knob. Source: I’m the father of two kids. | ||
- | As I progressed through the book, I learned about calls, functions, strings, lists and loops. Each time a concept was introduced, I was given a small snippet of code to enter, and an explanation of how it worked. The only time something didn’t work as expected was when I had entered the code incorrectly. Since the code was short and simple, it was an easy matter of looking through it to identify the problem. | + | As I progressed through the book, I learned about calls, functions, strings, lists and loops. Each time a concept was introduced, I was given a small snippet of code to enter, and an explanation of how it worked. The only time something didn’t work as expected was when I had entered the code incorrectly. Since the code was short and simple, it was an easy matter of looking through it to identify the problem.** |
- | At this point, allow me to rant on an issue all programming books have in common. Why the $#%! aren’t these books spiral bound so that I can read them comfortably while, you know, TYPING ON A KEYBOARD?! | + | À l' |
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+ | J'ai dû installer aussi la plus récente version de Idle (qui vous permet de lancer des programmes en Python) et il m'a fallu environ 3 secondes. Qu' | ||
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+ | Après avoir installé Idle et lu les premiers chapitres, j'ai terminé mon premier « Bonjour monde » en moins de 5 minutes. Pas mal, surtout quand vous prenez en compte la capacité de concentration du gosse moyen, qui est à peu près la même chose que celle du bouton de porte moyen. Source : J'ai deux gosses. | ||
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+ | Pendant la lecture du livre j'ai appris des choses sur les appels, les fonctions, les chaînes, les listes et les boucles. Chaque fois qu'un concept fut présenté, il y avait un petit bout de code à saisir accompagné d'une explication de son fonctionnement. La seule fois où quelque chose n'a pas fonctionné comme on pouvait s'y attendre, j' | ||
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+ | ===== 4 ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **At this point, allow me to rant on an issue all programming books have in common. Why the $#%! aren’t these books spiral bound so that I can read them comfortably while, you know, TYPING ON A KEYBOARD?! | ||
/rant | /rant | ||
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Each chapter builds on the previous, and puzzles at the end of each chapter test your knowledge. I have to say, these were not simple recreations of what had been done already but were, themselves, extensions of existing concepts. I actually got a little clammy-handed working through them, feeling like a high-school student taking a pop quiz. Thankfully, all the answers are available at http:// | Each chapter builds on the previous, and puzzles at the end of each chapter test your knowledge. I have to say, these were not simple recreations of what had been done already but were, themselves, extensions of existing concepts. I actually got a little clammy-handed working through them, feeling like a high-school student taking a pop quiz. Thankfully, all the answers are available at http:// | ||
- | One of the neat things about reading beginner programming books is that you start to see the evolution of games. As I read through the creation of classes and objects, and learned about functions asking for the user to input information (age, number, direction, action, etc), I felt like I was peeking behind the curtain of the earliest text-based dungeon-crawling games I played as a kid. Modern kids, with their Facetube and their YouBooks and their X-Wiis, probably won’t have that sense of nostalgia, but maybe their parents will. | + | One of the neat things about reading beginner programming books is that you start to see the evolution of games. As I read through the creation of classes and objects, and learned about functions asking for the user to input information (age, number, direction, action, etc), I felt like I was peeking behind the curtain of the earliest text-based dungeon-crawling games I played as a kid. Modern kids, with their Facetube and their YouBooks and their X-Wiis, probably won’t have that sense of nostalgia, but maybe their parents will.** |
- | By the end of the book, I had a cute little ball-and-paddle game up and running and a rudimentary understanding of the concepts used in its creation. While I’m not likely to get called up by Rockstar Games to work on Grand Theft Auto VI: Life in Sing-Sing, I do feel comfortable recommending the book to interested kids, or picking up some more beginner programming books for myself. There’s nothing quite like seeing the simple lines of code create something on the screen and knowing how and why it happened. | + | À ce stade, permettez-moi de me plaindre d'un problème commun à tous les livres de programmation. Pourquoi $#%! ces livres ne sont-ils pas des cahiers à spirale pour me permettre de les lire confortablement pendant que JE TAPE SUR UN CLAVIER ?! |
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+ | /plainte | ||
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+ | En moins d'une heure après avoir ouvert le livre, je dessinais des carrés avec le module « turtle », ou tortue (qui, puisqu' | ||
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+ | Chaque chapitre s' | ||
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+ | Une des choses sympas dans la lecture de livres sur la programmation pour débutants est que vous commencez à apercevoir l' | ||
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+ | ===== 5 ===== | ||
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+ | **By the end of the book, I had a cute little ball-and-paddle game up and running and a rudimentary understanding of the concepts used in its creation. While I’m not likely to get called up by Rockstar Games to work on Grand Theft Auto VI: Life in Sing-Sing, I do feel comfortable recommending the book to interested kids, or picking up some more beginner programming books for myself. There’s nothing quite like seeing the simple lines of code create something on the screen and knowing how and why it happened. | ||
I only have a few complaints about the book and none of them would keep me from recommending it (although they might be helpful in managing expectations for potential readers). | I only have a few complaints about the book and none of them would keep me from recommending it (although they might be helpful in managing expectations for potential readers). | ||
- | First, of the games you get to program yourself, the first one, a ball-and-paddle game, doesn’t make an appearance until page 190. While all the concepts leading up to the creation of the game are explained clearly, and make up the bulk of what you’re learning, I felt the game came a little late. An easy fix for anyone interested in getting the book who thinks this might be an issue: simply download the final version of the ball-and-paddle game (available free at the publisher’s website), run it, and then take a look at the code. It will seem like gibberish at first, but, as you go through the book, you’ll start to see how certain modules and functions could be used to create the game. | + | First, of the games you get to program yourself, the first one, a ball-and-paddle game, doesn’t make an appearance until page 190. While all the concepts leading up to the creation of the game are explained clearly, and make up the bulk of what you’re learning, I felt the game came a little late. An easy fix for anyone interested in getting the book who thinks this might be an issue: simply download the final version of the ball-and-paddle game (available free at the publisher’s website), run it, and then take a look at the code. It will seem like gibberish at first, but, as you go through the book, you’ll start to see how certain modules and functions could be used to create the game.** |
- | Second, while the book says it’s for kids, it is important to explain to young readers what the book can and cannot do. When I showed the book to my seven year old, he got very excited and came up with a laundry list of things he wanted to see in the game I was apparently going to program for him, none of which I could accommodate (with the exception of naming the game Kitchen Confidential: | + | À la fin du livre je pouvais exécuter un mignon petit jeu de ping-pong, avec une compréhension rudimentaire des concepts utilisés dans sa création. Bien qu'il y ait peu de chances que Rockstar Games me demande de travailler sur Grand Theft Auto VI : Life in Sing-Sing, je peux, sans hésiter, recommander ce livre à des gosses intéressés ou, même, me procurer davantage de livres sur la programmation pour débutants. Savoir comment et pourquoi de simples lignes de code créent quelque chose à l' |
+ | Je n'ai que très peu de plaintes au sujet du livre et aucune ne m' | ||
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+ | D' | ||
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+ | ===== 6 ===== | ||
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+ | **Second, while the book says it’s for kids, it is important to explain to young readers what the book can and cannot do. When I showed the book to my seven year old, he got very excited and came up with a laundry list of things he wanted to see in the game I was apparently going to program for him, none of which I could accommodate (with the exception of naming the game Kitchen Confidential: | ||
As a side note, whenever someone is ready to pay me to write a beginner programming book using the Diary of a Wimpy Kid model (basically bathroom humor and silly cartoons), get in touch. I have some perfect fart jokes analogies for explaining inherited classes. | As a side note, whenever someone is ready to pay me to write a beginner programming book using the Diary of a Wimpy Kid model (basically bathroom humor and silly cartoons), get in touch. I have some perfect fart jokes analogies for explaining inherited classes. | ||
- | Until my spiral bound New York Times Bestseller comes out, Python for Kids is a perfect substitute! | + | Until my spiral bound New York Times Bestseller comes out, Python for Kids is a perfect substitute!** |
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+ | Deuxièmement, | ||
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+ | En guise de note marginale, quand quelqu' | ||
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+ | Jusqu' |
issue71/critique_litteraire.1364653982.txt.gz · Dernière modification : 2013/03/30 15:33 de andre_domenech