[sudo-discuss] Drawing Dynamic Visualizations - A revolution in programming and math

[GtwoG PublicOhOne]

Tom & YOs-

I couldn't get the video without jamming up my browser (I don't have
time to tweak the security settings right now to get it) but I found this:
http://worrydream.com/#!/LearnableProgramming
... which is an interesting start.

Along similar lines...

Recently I read an article on the BBC site, about a 14-year-old Ph.D.
student named Jacob Barnett, who's presently working on PT-symmetric
lattice systems and, according to a number of working scientists
(including at Princeton), is smarter than Einstein and on track for a
Nobel in physics.  This kid has a lot of his stuff recorded on YouTube,
and the following is specifically relevant here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq-FOOQ1TpE

Go to the spot at 1 minute 15 seconds, and watch through to 1 minute 30
seconds: he shows a brief animation of how he visualizes numbers.  He
uses the number 32 as an example, and the visual shows a set of colored
lines in a visual hierarchy of sizes, that intersect and rotate in
various ways.  This strikes me as being a teachable skill, once you
understand the system (which I don't).  And it may be usable by the rest
of us (people who aren't nearly as smart as Einstein or Barnett).  Any
math geeks here, I'd be interested in what you think about this.

I've also been thinking about a program that would read equations out
loud, in much the same manner as an audio reader for regular text such
as e-books.  It would also have a light-colored block cursor
(non-blinking) that would move through each equation as it's being read,
so you can see which symbols are being read from moment to moment.

Ask yourself, how can a person who has some kind of visual disability,
interact with equations in a program such as Mathematica?  I'm dyslexic
and that has resulted in serious holes in my math skills, as in,
embarrassingly serious holes, caused by the way dyslexia flips
non-semantic character strings, specifically the various parentheses,
brackets, and suchlike, and other mathematical symbols such as the ones
represented by Greek letters. 

One of the work-arounds I use in certain areas is to "spatialize" or
create three-dimensional visualizations of abstract processes and
time-dependent processes (trading time for space, as it were), such as
traffic and signal flow in telephone switching systems.  Another
work-around is to turn visual into audio, as a running soundtrack in my
mind's ear. 

For the way I process information, an equation reader that turns the
visual into audio while moving a cursor across the material being read,
would be an incredibly useful tool.  I'm inclined to think it would have
a pretty wide range of application, for people who have other visual or
learning disabilities or variations. 

Does anything like this exist yet?

-G.


=====


On 13-05-21-Tue 1:33 PM, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:
> Bret Victor, an Oakland resident, keeps blowing my mind. His latest
> video is about programming by drawing geometries. Most Mathematicians
> work in pictures or with their kinesthetic sense, however, programming
> is algebriac in nature - it is blind symbol manipulation. He argues we
> have thus far merely emulated old drawing mediums with computer's
> without utilizing their potential for simulation.
>
> http://worrydream.com/#!/DrawingDynamicVisualizationsTalk
>
> The site is loaded with gems. Inventing on principle changed my life.
>
> His reading list is the finest I've seen. I've read to varying levels
> of completion about 20 so far and haven't been disappointed yet. It
> comprises a complete curriculum in winning.
>
> http://worrydream.com/#!/Links
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