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06-08-2008, 06:50 PM
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#1 | | New Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 26
| vPython language
One of the physics instructors in my (community) college insist on putting vPython in his curriculum...I'm just wondering whether vPython is a commonly used language for engineering?
In general or just certain disciplines of engineering? | 
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06-08-2008, 07:57 PM
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#2 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 151
| python is used really in gaming. I could not see it being used for engineering (I made 2 games with python so I have experience) just because it is so plain and nothing great. | |
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06-08-2008, 08:06 PM
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#3 | | Member
Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: GaTech
Posts: 697
| I've used python in high school comp sci. We also used it for fun after the ap test in AP comp sci A/B. I've never heard of it being used in engineering though... | |
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06-08-2008, 08:15 PM
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#4 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 2,142
| Begging to differ. I'm not a programmer myself, but my brother taught a course at Mudd in Python programming for engineers. From the one lecture I attended, it seemed very relevant to engineers. I'll talk with my brother if he comes online later and ask him for some detailed arguments.
Basically, from what I understand, it's a very clean language that's strong in object-oriented programming. One of these days, I'm going to write design modules using OOP for all the things in my job that are boring and tedious, and I shall be rich and intellectually satisfied. | |
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06-08-2008, 08:25 PM
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#5 | | Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 420
| i have a friend who says he's using python almost exclusively in his job and told me anyone will land a job if he or she learns python before graduation because it's so widely used...
well, he wasn't working as an engineer, but i guess it's widely used in other industries. | |
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06-08-2008, 08:38 PM
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#6 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 2,142
| aibarr:
Why is Python a particularly good language for engineers to learn?
aibarr's brother:
Because it's very simple to do simple things, and more importantly, the available libraries, things that are already done for you, are extensive and of very high quality.
aibarr:
What is it about the language that's allowed all these tools to develop? Just the simplicity of it?
aibarr's brother:
More or less. It's also pretty self-sustaining now. It's easy to write for, and the code is very very clean. Good Python code reads like pseudocode. You shouldn't need to know the language to read the code.
aibarr:
Cool. Thanks. | |
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06-08-2008, 11:36 PM
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#7 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 84
| First, the guy is teaching physics, not programming, so he definitely wants something simple... And there are extensive libraries for MATLAB, Sage, Octave, bla bla bla in python.
Other than that, I really, really, really doubt hardcore engineers would ever use python for anything that's not a half an hour project. | |
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06-09-2008, 12:21 AM
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#8 | | New Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 26
| the course's name is engineering physics but yeah...
So would you recommend C++ over vPython? | |
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06-09-2008, 12:55 AM
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#9 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Fiji Islands/Los Angeles
Posts: 179
| its used a lot in bioinformatics | |
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06-09-2008, 03:18 AM
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#10 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 275
| In linux, writing programs in python seems to be all the rage these days. Its pretty versatile, looks and feels like C (sort of), and it can do a lot. And I think it has good cross-platform capabilities too. Sort of like Java, but not as much of a memory hog, as well. | |
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06-09-2008, 09:59 AM
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#11 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 84
| I just really looked at what vPython was; it's python with an extremely simple and basic 2D/3D library. Now about recommending C/C++ over this ... you should always learn C/C++. Quote:
Use in Classrooms
Students in introductory physics courses have been using VPython to do computer modeling. VPython lets students focus on the physics computations without having to write explicit graphics statements yet obtain 3D visualization. Students can do true vector computations, which improves their understanding of the utility of vectors and vector notation.
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Last edited by fesago; 06-09-2008 at 10:07 AM.
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06-15-2008, 12:19 AM
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#12 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 88
| python is actually compiled into c, you just don't have to deal with a lot of the stuff that is necessary with c (like trash). and its a pretty easy language to learn, so its a good choice if programming isn't the main focus of the class.
there are a lot of really interesting modules in regular old python. I used python in a class examining and creating social networks. | |
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