RAREblog

Good programmers are Lazy. According to Larry Wall (a very famous programmer) laziness is a virtue. Lazy programmers come up with labour-saving solutions. If you’d like to save time for yourself and others by writing MicroPython code that’s easy to re-use, read on. The article assumes that you are already familiar with the concepts of Object, Class and Composition, and that you know how to write a class definition in Python. If you’re not familiar with Object-Orientation (O O) in Python  you may find the code hard to follow. I’ve given a very brief introduction to O O later in this article. There are several ways to learn about Python O O. There’s an ‘official’ tutorial here , but I’m not sure a beginner would find it easy to follow. There’s a whole book on the subject from Packt, and it looks good. It represents quite an investment in time and money, but I think it’s worthwhile if you are serious about improving your Python O O skills. I will probably get round...

Fake news? TeachMeet in Manchester I went up to Manchester on Thursday to join a TeachMeet organised by Alan O'Donohoe and friends. Several of us presented free resources for teachers to share: you can see the full list, and find links to resources here . It was a lively session and as usual the teachers made me feel very welcome. (Many also downloaded the free micro:bit MicroPython workbook , which was very gratifying). Each time I meet UK teachers of Computer Science and Design Technology I am amazed at how much new syllabus content they have been asked to take on board and how little resource they have been given to meet the challenge. If you are based in the UK and have a background in Computing, there are many ways in which you can help. Here are a few: Join a local Code Club as a volunteer Become a STEM ambassador for STEMnet Join the Computing at School community and create Open Source resources which teachers can use. You'll be making a real diff...