Quozl

Pippy Design Idea 2011-03-10

Usage

A learner will:

review and run included examples,
modify included examples, and run them,
derive more complex code using included examples,
derive more complex code using modules created by teachers or other learner, with or without changing the contributed module,
write fresh modules.

A group of learners will do the above, but also:

collaborate on a set of modules included in the shared activity instance,
run modules locally on each laptop.

A pair of learners may:

create one subordinate module each, and concentrate on it,
create one master module that imports the two subordinate modules,
write unit tests in each subordinate module and run them locally on each laptop,
integrate by running the master module.

Purpose

increase code sharing,
increase relevance to Python users,
increase portability of code written, beyond Pippy and Sugar,

Data

A running Pippy instance will contain the following data:

zero or more modules (each module is a python zip bundle, not a sugar bundle),
each module will include zero or more source files,
each module will include a source file setup.py capable of creating the python zip bundle output, but unless the user has asked to edit the setup.py, it will not be shown, instead a default will be used, maintained by Pippy,

A shared Pippy will contain the same data as above on each laptop.

Input

Pippy may read from:

a saved instance of Pippy, in the journal,
a module(python zip bundle) in the journal,
example modules included with Pippy,

Output

Pippy may write to:

a saved instance of Pippy, in the journal,
- (activation of this journal entry: run the Pippy activity and present exactly what was visible at the time the saved instance was created)
a module (python zip bundle) in the journal.
- (activation of this journal entry: run the Pippy activity in an execution only mode that behaves in the same way as the "run" button, displaying a VTE if required, and if not exiting immediately, without creating a journal entry,)

Display

Display will contain:

toolbar,
a series of tabs, one for each module, an add module button, and an open example module button,
within each module, a series of tabs, one for __doc__ that is not editable, one for each source file that is editable, and an add file button,
within each file, a syntax highlighting text edit widget.

(the series of tabs encapsulated in another series of tabs is potentially difficult for a learner to comprehend, but an alternative tree view is thought inappropriate because of the horizontal space consumed, and because use of a module should be constrained to the public API of the module).

Process

When run is pressed, display will contain:

toolbar,
stdout stdin vte,
a stop button.

Changes

Partial list of changes to bring Pippy existing source to a state consistent with the design above:

remove the examples widget from the main screen, provide it only as an "open an example bundle" function,
remove the output window from the main screen, provide it only when a program is run, and only if the program generates stdout or reads from stdin,
enlarge the program text entry widget to be nearly full screen,
encapsulate the program text entry widget in tabs for files in a zip bundle,
encapsulate the bundle in tabs for zip bundles loaded into pippy instance,
on standard sugar save, save all zip bundles and files in a sugar journal entry,
provide an export zip bundle button that creates a sugar journal entry of type zip bundle, for sharing,
provide a way to import zip bundles from journal into the current pippy instance, using the object chooser,
on execution of a bundle, allow access to all other currently loaded bundles via import, and access to system bundles via import,