[CODE4LIB] Open Repositories 2013 - Deadline for Proposals Extended to March 4th
*Open Repositories 2013 - Deadline for Proposals Extended to March 4th! This year’s Open Repositories conference takes place in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada between Monday, July 8 and Friday, July 12. Registration is now open at http://or2013.net about:blank - register early and reserve your accommodationhttp://or2013.net/content/loc/accommodationsas soon as you can! We invite you to contribute to the conference program. The deadline has been extended until Monday, March 4th!* * This year’s conference theme is Use, Reuse, Reproduce. One of the most important roles of repositories is to enable greater use and reuse of their contents— whether those contents are library collections, scholarly articles, research data, or software—and metadata. The notion of use and reuse can be extended to repository infrastructure as well. Many repositories are based on open source software that can be freely reused and adapted to serve local needs; other efforts are also emerging both in conjunction with and outside traditional repository platforms to encourage discipline or community specific reuse and sharing of software, services, and infrastructure. In addition there is a growing interest and need to document and share the code and workflows used to produce research results - particularly in computationally intensive fields - in order to promote reproducible research. We are very pleased to announce that the opening keynote this year will be Victoria Stodden of Columbia University and co-founder of http://www.runmycode.org/http://www.runmycode.org/CompanionSite/home.do. See more about Dr. Stodden here: http://www.stodden.net/ http://www.stodden.net/ Some specific areas of interest for OR2013 are: - Effective re-use of content--particularly research data--enabled by embedded repository tools and services - Effective re-use of software, services, and infrastructure to support repository development - Facilitation of reproducible research through access to data, workflows, and code - Services making use of repository metadata - Focused, disciplinary or community-based software, services, and infrastructure for use and reuse of content - Integration of data, including linked data, and external services with repositories to provide solutions to specific domains - Added-value services for repositories - Long-term preservation of repositories and their contents - Role and impact of repositories in the research ecosystem The aim of the Open Repositories Conference is to bring those responsible for the development, implementation and management of digital repositories together with stakeholders, such as researchers, librarians, publishers and others, to address theoretical, practical, and strategic issues across the entire lifecycle of information, from the creation and management of digital content, to enabling use, re-use, and interconnection of information, and ensuring long-term preservation and archiving. The current economic climate dictates that repositories operate across administrative and disciplinary boundaries and to interact with distributed computational services and social communities. Submissions can take the form of proposals for presentations, panels, posters, demonstrations, and workshops. We will consider any submission that seems to us sufficiently original and repository-related to merit attention at this event, but we’ll give preference to submissions that address our primary theme. In some cases, papers submitted to the general conference may be referred to user groups if appropriate. Key dates and contacts - EXTENDED to 4 March 2013: Deadline for submissions - 12 April 2013: Submitters notified of acceptance to general conference - 19 April 2013: Submitters notified of acceptance to user groups - 8-12 July 2013: OR2013 conference: - 8 July 2013: Pre-conference workshops - 9-11 July 2013: General Conference - 11-12 July 2013: DSpace, EPrints, and Fedora user group meetings Submission process Conference Papers and Panels We welcome two- to four-page proposals for presentations or panels that deal with organizational, theoretical, practical, or administrative issues of digital repositories and repository services that are not specific to a particular technical platform. Abstracts of accepted papers will be made available through the conference’s web site, and later they and associated materials will be made available in a repository intended for current and future OR content. In general, sessions are an hour and a half long with three papers per session; panels may take an entire session. Relevant papers unsuccessful in the main track will automatically be considered for inclusion, as appropriate, as a User Group presentation. User Group Presentations One to two-page proposals for presentations or panels that focus on use of one of the major repository platforms (EPrints, DSpace and Fedora) are invited from
[CODE4LIB] Getting started with Ruby and library-ish data (was RE: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?)
This is a terribly distorted view of Ruby: If you want to make web pages, learn Ruby, and you don't need to learn Rails to get the benefit of Ruby's awesomeness. But, everyone will have their own opinions. There's no accounting for taste. For anyone interested in learning to program and hack around with library data or linked data, here are some places to start (heavily biased toward the elegance of Ruby): http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Working_with_MaRC https://delicious.com/jstirnaman/ruby+books https://delicious.com/jstirnaman/ruby+tutorials http://rdf.rubyforge.org/ Jason Jason Stirnaman Digital Projects Librarian A.R. Dykes Library University of Kansas Medical Center 913-588-7319 From: Code for Libraries [CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] on behalf of Joe Hourcle [onei...@grace.nascom.nasa.gov] Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 12:52 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I? On Feb 17, 2013, at 11:43 AM, John Fereira wrote: I have been writing software professionally since around 1980 and first encounterd perl in the early 1990s of so and have *always* disliked it. Last year I had to work on a project that was mostly developed in perl and it reminded me how much I disliked it. As a utility language, and one that I think is good for beginning programmers (especially for those working in a library) I'd recommend PHP over perl every time. I'll agree that there are a few aspects of Perl that can be confusing, as some functions will change behavior depending on context, and there was a lot of bad code examples out there.* ... but I'd recommend almost any current mainstream language before recommending that someone learn PHP. If you're looking to make web pages, learn Ruby. If you're doing data cleanup, Perl if it's lots of text, Python if it's mostly numbers. I should also mention that in the early 1990s would have been Perl 4 ... and unfortunately, most people who learned Perl never learned Perl 5. It's changed a lot over the years. (just like PHP isn't nearly as insecure as it used to be ... and actually supports placeholders so you don't end up with SQL injections) -Joe
Re: [CODE4LIB] Getting started with Ruby and library-ish data (was RE: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?)
The language you choose is somewhat dependent on the data you're working with. I don't find that Ruby or PHP are particularly good at dealing with XML. They're passable for data manipulation and migration, but I wouldn't use them to render large collections of structured XML data, like EAD or TEI collections, or whatever. Ethan On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 8:52 AM, Jason Stirnaman jstirna...@kumc.eduwrote: This is a terribly distorted view of Ruby: If you want to make web pages, learn Ruby, and you don't need to learn Rails to get the benefit of Ruby's awesomeness. But, everyone will have their own opinions. There's no accounting for taste. For anyone interested in learning to program and hack around with library data or linked data, here are some places to start (heavily biased toward the elegance of Ruby): http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Working_with_MaRC https://delicious.com/jstirnaman/ruby+books https://delicious.com/jstirnaman/ruby+tutorials http://rdf.rubyforge.org/ Jason Jason Stirnaman Digital Projects Librarian A.R. Dykes Library University of Kansas Medical Center 913-588-7319 From: Code for Libraries [CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] on behalf of Joe Hourcle [onei...@grace.nascom.nasa.gov] Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 12:52 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I? On Feb 17, 2013, at 11:43 AM, John Fereira wrote: I have been writing software professionally since around 1980 and first encounterd perl in the early 1990s of so and have *always* disliked it. Last year I had to work on a project that was mostly developed in perl and it reminded me how much I disliked it. As a utility language, and one that I think is good for beginning programmers (especially for those working in a library) I'd recommend PHP over perl every time. I'll agree that there are a few aspects of Perl that can be confusing, as some functions will change behavior depending on context, and there was a lot of bad code examples out there.* ... but I'd recommend almost any current mainstream language before recommending that someone learn PHP. If you're looking to make web pages, learn Ruby. If you're doing data cleanup, Perl if it's lots of text, Python if it's mostly numbers. I should also mention that in the early 1990s would have been Perl 4 ... and unfortunately, most people who learned Perl never learned Perl 5. It's changed a lot over the years. (just like PHP isn't nearly as insecure as it used to be ... and actually supports placeholders so you don't end up with SQL injections) -Joe
Re: [CODE4LIB] Getting started with Ruby and library-ish data (was RE: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?)
This is an interesting and frustrating conversation. Most modern languages are capable of doing almost anything. They all have strengths and weaknesses. I have worked in many languages starting in Fortran, and, while I have favorites, I like the fact that I can be productive and efficient by concentrating on one language at a time. Because my day job is mostly Drupal, for me that language is PHP. When I started, I was working with ColdFusion (ok, maybe not really a language), Java (meh), and Python (++). I didn't love PHP or choose it, but I appreciated that it could do what I needed it to do. At the time, that work included a lot of XML manipulation. I think that PHP has a good toolset for dealing with XML. I am sure that there may be something better, but that really does not matter, since my team has sufficient facility with PHP to complete anything we take on and the experience and resources to do it with economy and efficiency. We haven't abandoned everything else. We use Python for server management — its AWS libraries sealed that deal — finally displacing Perl, and Ruby for DevOps (why this gets capitalized at all, I have no clue) and deployment. Solr keeps us vaguely in touch with Java. This boils down to: If it is your decision and you have a tool you prefer, use it. Thanks, Cary On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 6:00 AM, Ethan Gruber ewg4x...@gmail.com wrote: The language you choose is somewhat dependent on the data you're working with. I don't find that Ruby or PHP are particularly good at dealing with XML. They're passable for data manipulation and migration, but I wouldn't use them to render large collections of structured XML data, like EAD or TEI collections, or whatever. Ethan On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 8:52 AM, Jason Stirnaman jstirna...@kumc.eduwrote: This is a terribly distorted view of Ruby: If you want to make web pages, learn Ruby, and you don't need to learn Rails to get the benefit of Ruby's awesomeness. But, everyone will have their own opinions. There's no accounting for taste. For anyone interested in learning to program and hack around with library data or linked data, here are some places to start (heavily biased toward the elegance of Ruby): http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Working_with_MaRC https://delicious.com/jstirnaman/ruby+books https://delicious.com/jstirnaman/ruby+tutorials http://rdf.rubyforge.org/ Jason Jason Stirnaman Digital Projects Librarian A.R. Dykes Library University of Kansas Medical Center 913-588-7319 From: Code for Libraries [CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] on behalf of Joe Hourcle [onei...@grace.nascom.nasa.gov] Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 12:52 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I? On Feb 17, 2013, at 11:43 AM, John Fereira wrote: I have been writing software professionally since around 1980 and first encounterd perl in the early 1990s of so and have *always* disliked it. Last year I had to work on a project that was mostly developed in perl and it reminded me how much I disliked it. As a utility language, and one that I think is good for beginning programmers (especially for those working in a library) I'd recommend PHP over perl every time. I'll agree that there are a few aspects of Perl that can be confusing, as some functions will change behavior depending on context, and there was a lot of bad code examples out there.* ... but I'd recommend almost any current mainstream language before recommending that someone learn PHP. If you're looking to make web pages, learn Ruby. If you're doing data cleanup, Perl if it's lots of text, Python if it's mostly numbers. I should also mention that in the early 1990s would have been Perl 4 ... and unfortunately, most people who learned Perl never learned Perl 5. It's changed a lot over the years. (just like PHP isn't nearly as insecure as it used to be ... and actually supports placeholders so you don't end up with SQL injections) -Joe -- Cary Gordon The Cherry Hill Company http://chillco.com
[CODE4LIB] Job: Programmer at Kansas State University
**Required Qualifications:** * Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field. Three years of experience developing web-based applications may be substituted for a bachelor's degree. * Demonstrated proficiency: * developing web applications using one or more of the following programming languages: PHP, Ruby, Python, Java, and * experience with one or more of the following: HTML5, CSS3, XML, XSL, Javascript, and * working with relational databases such as MySQL or Postgresql. * Strong customer service attitude; enthusiasm for working in a collaborative team-oriented environment **Preferred Qualifications:** * Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field. * Demonstrated experience working with any of the following: * a Content Management System such as Drupal, Joomla, or WordPress * repository applications (e.g., DSpace, Fedora, ContentDM) * team-based development using version control systems such as Git or Subversion * Knowledge of any of the following: * LDAP, Shibboleth or other common methods of authentication * Semantic Web and Linked Data concepts and technologies * Search Engine Optimization (SEO) * Knowledge of user-centered design, usability testing and web standards, including accessibility standards * Formal coursework in, or experience with, user information-seeking behaviors in an academic environment, including creating and adapting web-based tools such as wikis, blogs, etc. **Responsibilities:** * Perform technical planning, development, and implementation of Web-based applications and interfaces, including mobile applications, to provide a seamless access environment to end users. * Work collaboratively with technical and non-technical library staff to provide general web development guidance and expertise, and to implement enhancements to the Libraries website and electronic resources discovery and access systems. * Support the ongoing development of the Libraries software infrastructure, including, but not limited to, institutional repositories (DSpace, and others), content management systems, web applications, and other library systems. * Collaborate with other technology partners. * Work with teams to manage system administration, web/application server administration and database server administration, maintaining up-to-date system documentation and managing code in a version-control system. * Investigate new technologies and software applications. **To Apply:** Please send: * A letter of application. To greatly strengthen your application, please apply your communication skills to clearly address the position responsibilities and qualifications listed above, and demonstrate how your work style, vision, and other distinctive qualities would enhance our organization. * A curriculum vitae * Names and contact information for three professional references to li...@k-state.edu, attention Kim Piper. Please include Prog. i in the subject line. Deadline for applying is March 22, 2013. Kansas State University actively seeks diversity among its employees and is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. Background check required. Brought to you by code4lib jobs: http://jobs.code4lib.org/job/6328/
Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?
I suggested PHP primarily because I find it easy to read and understand and that's it's very commonly used. Both Drupal and Wordpress are written in PHP and if we're talking about building web pages there are a lot of sites that use one of those as a CMS. I've looked at both good and bad perl code, some written some very accomplished software developers, and I still don't like it. I am not personally interested in learning to make web pages (I've been making them for 20 years) and have mostly dabbled in Ruby but suspect that I'll be doing a lot more programming in Ruby (and will be attending the LibDevConX workshop at Stanford next month where I'm sure we'll be discussing Hydra). I'm also somewhat familiar with Python but I just haven't found that many people are using it in my institution (where I've worked for the past 15 years) to spend any time learning more about it. If you're going to suggest mainstream languages I'm not sure how you can omit Java (though just mentioning the word seems to scare people). -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Joe Hourcle Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 1:52 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I? On Feb 17, 2013, at 11:43 AM, John Fereira wrote: I have been writing software professionally since around 1980 and first encounterd perl in the early 1990s of so and have *always* disliked it. Last year I had to work on a project that was mostly developed in perl and it reminded me how much I disliked it. As a utility language, and one that I think is good for beginning programmers (especially for those working in a library) I'd recommend PHP over perl every time. I'll agree that there are a few aspects of Perl that can be confusing, as some functions will change behavior depending on context, and there was a lot of bad code examples out there.* ... but I'd recommend almost any current mainstream language before recommending that someone learn PHP. If you're looking to make web pages, learn Ruby. If you're doing data cleanup, Perl if it's lots of text, Python if it's mostly numbers. I should also mention that in the early 1990s would have been Perl 4 ... and unfortunately, most people who learned Perl never learned Perl 5. It's changed a lot over the years. (just like PHP isn't nearly as insecure as it used to be ... and actually supports placeholders so you don't end up with SQL injections) -Joe
[CODE4LIB] Job: Digital Preservation Manager at Yale University Library
Preservation Department Yale University Library New Haven, CT Rank: Librarian 1-5 (Grade 23-29) www.yale.edu/jobs Schedule: Full-time (37.5 hours per week); Standard Work Week (M-F, 8:30-5:00) Yale University offers exciting opportunities for achievement and growth in New Haven, Connecticut. Conveniently located between Boston and New York, New Haven is the creative capital of Connecticut with cultural resources that include two major art museums, a critically-acclaimed repertory theater, state-of-the-art concert hall, and world-renowned schools of Architecture, Art, Drama, and Music. The University and the Library: The Yale University Library, as one of the world's leading research libraries, collects, organizes, preserves, and provides access to and services for a rich and unique record of human thought and creativity. It fosters intellectual growth and supports the teaching and research missions of Yale University and scholarly communities worldwide. A distinctive strength is its rich spectrum of resources, including around 12.8 million volumes and information in all media, ranging from ancient papyri to early printed books to electronic databases. The Library is engaging in numerous projects to expand access to its physical and digital collections. Housed in eighteen buildings including the Sterling Memorial Library, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and the Bass Library, it employs a dynamic and diverse staff of approximately five hundred who offer innovative and flexible services to library readers. For additional information on the Yale University Library, please visit the Library's web site at www.library.yale.edu. The Preservation Department: Yale University Library's Preservation Department, started in 1971, is one of the oldest in the country. It has strong administrative support and has played a major role in the development of the preservation field. The Department has system wide responsibilities and consists of units covering conservation of special and circulating collections as well as exhibition preparation; of special collections materials and circulating materials; mass deacidification; and staff and user-education and consultation on wide variety of preservation concerns. Position Focus: Reporting to the Director of Preservation, the Digital Preservation Manager (DPM) will develop a plan to ensure effective acquisition, description, preservation, security of and provision of access to all Yale Library digital components that must be preserved indefinitely. While reporting to the Director of Preservation, it is expected the DPM will work closely with and coordinate digital policies procedures with Library University IT and with Library departments/units that have born digital collection material, including but not limited to commercially produced e-resources, and significant digital surrogates of analog material. Principal Responsibilities: 1. The Librarian 1 is the beginning rank and is expected to demonstrate excellence in meeting the position responsibilities, as defined by the job description and annual goals. 2. Begin to fulfill the criteria for service to the library, university, and/or community. 3. Begin to fulfill the criteria for professional contributions. 4. For a complete description of the position and department, please see the department URL. Position Responsibilities: 1. Researches, develops, documents, and implements a digital preservation program building out of the new Hydra infrastructure taking on a key role to ensure preservation of all Library digital collections of enduring value: a. Reviews existing Library practices and analyzes needs and establishes policies and best practices for the long-term protection and access to digital materials of all types, both created by or acquired by the Library taking into consideration Yale's continuing participation in LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, and Portico; and b. Works with Library IT and University ITS in the development of a Trusted Digital Repository (TDR) for Library digital collections. 2. Advises Library staff and develops guidelines for acquisition and long-term preservation of born digital materials, including the coordination of long- term preservation strategies for commercial e-resources. 3. Works closely and collaboratively with cataloging staff, archivists, curators, collection managers, Library IT, and text and image specialists to ensure consistent procedures and guidelines and to integrate digital preservation policy requirements into broader organizational policies and procedures. 4. Works with Library IT and University ITS to develop an overall migration strategy that ensures materials in standard and non-standard or obsolete digital formats are migrated so as to minimize introduction of generational loss or compromising of authenticity. 5. Prepares digital preservation project proposal guidelines, including specifications for vendor services that
Re: [CODE4LIB] Getting started with Ruby and library-ish data (was RE: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?)
Getting back to the original point so noting some nice starting tools, I find http://www.codecademy.com to be a decent starting spot for those of us without much computer science background. I am not sure what professional developers think of the site but I find it a helpful to tutorial to start getting a basic understanding of scripting, Ruby, JavaScript, Python, JQuery, APIs, ect. Hope that helps. Matt Sherman On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 7:52 AM, Jason Stirnaman jstirna...@kumc.eduwrote: This is a terribly distorted view of Ruby: If you want to make web pages, learn Ruby, and you don't need to learn Rails to get the benefit of Ruby's awesomeness. But, everyone will have their own opinions. There's no accounting for taste. For anyone interested in learning to program and hack around with library data or linked data, here are some places to start (heavily biased toward the elegance of Ruby): http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Working_with_MaRC https://delicious.com/jstirnaman/ruby+books https://delicious.com/jstirnaman/ruby+tutorials http://rdf.rubyforge.org/ Jason Jason Stirnaman Digital Projects Librarian A.R. Dykes Library University of Kansas Medical Center 913-588-7319 From: Code for Libraries [CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] on behalf of Joe Hourcle [onei...@grace.nascom.nasa.gov] Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 12:52 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I? On Feb 17, 2013, at 11:43 AM, John Fereira wrote: I have been writing software professionally since around 1980 and first encounterd perl in the early 1990s of so and have *always* disliked it. Last year I had to work on a project that was mostly developed in perl and it reminded me how much I disliked it. As a utility language, and one that I think is good for beginning programmers (especially for those working in a library) I'd recommend PHP over perl every time. I'll agree that there are a few aspects of Perl that can be confusing, as some functions will change behavior depending on context, and there was a lot of bad code examples out there.* ... but I'd recommend almost any current mainstream language before recommending that someone learn PHP. If you're looking to make web pages, learn Ruby. If you're doing data cleanup, Perl if it's lots of text, Python if it's mostly numbers. I should also mention that in the early 1990s would have been Perl 4 ... and unfortunately, most people who learned Perl never learned Perl 5. It's changed a lot over the years. (just like PHP isn't nearly as insecure as it used to be ... and actually supports placeholders so you don't end up with SQL injections) -Joe
Re: [CODE4LIB] Getting started with Ruby and library-ish data (was RE: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?)
If you're just learning to program, I would absolutely recommend an interpreted language like Ruby, PHP, Python, Perl, JavaScript etc. over something that is compiled like Java, C, or Go. These languages are almost always slower, but the immediate feedback is invaluable for learning. I find that Java and C are very hard to learn because you spend so many lines describing how something should be done (implementation) instead of what actions should be done. I love these kinds of sites for learning new languages: http://tryhaskell.org/ http://tryruby.org/ http://jsbin.com/ http://perltuts.com/try https://www.pythonanywhere.com/try-ipython/ http://writecodeonline.com/php/ -Justin On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 10:12 AM, Cary Gordon listu...@chillco.com wrote: This is an interesting and frustrating conversation. Most modern languages are capable of doing almost anything. They all have strengths and weaknesses. I have worked in many languages starting in Fortran, and, while I have favorites, I like the fact that I can be productive and efficient by concentrating on one language at a time. Because my day job is mostly Drupal, for me that language is PHP. When I started, I was working with ColdFusion (ok, maybe not really a language), Java (meh), and Python (++). I didn't love PHP or choose it, but I appreciated that it could do what I needed it to do. At the time, that work included a lot of XML manipulation. I think that PHP has a good toolset for dealing with XML. I am sure that there may be something better, but that really does not matter, since my team has sufficient facility with PHP to complete anything we take on and the experience and resources to do it with economy and efficiency. We haven't abandoned everything else. We use Python for server management — its AWS libraries sealed that deal — finally displacing Perl, and Ruby for DevOps (why this gets capitalized at all, I have no clue) and deployment. Solr keeps us vaguely in touch with Java. This boils down to: If it is your decision and you have a tool you prefer, use it. Thanks, Cary On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 6:00 AM, Ethan Gruber ewg4x...@gmail.com wrote: The language you choose is somewhat dependent on the data you're working with. I don't find that Ruby or PHP are particularly good at dealing with XML. They're passable for data manipulation and migration, but I wouldn't use them to render large collections of structured XML data, like EAD or TEI collections, or whatever. Ethan On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 8:52 AM, Jason Stirnaman jstirna...@kumc.edu wrote: This is a terribly distorted view of Ruby: If you want to make web pages, learn Ruby, and you don't need to learn Rails to get the benefit of Ruby's awesomeness. But, everyone will have their own opinions. There's no accounting for taste. For anyone interested in learning to program and hack around with library data or linked data, here are some places to start (heavily biased toward the elegance of Ruby): http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Working_with_MaRC https://delicious.com/jstirnaman/ruby+books https://delicious.com/jstirnaman/ruby+tutorials http://rdf.rubyforge.org/ Jason Jason Stirnaman Digital Projects Librarian A.R. Dykes Library University of Kansas Medical Center 913-588-7319 From: Code for Libraries [CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] on behalf of Joe Hourcle [onei...@grace.nascom.nasa.gov] Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 12:52 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I? On Feb 17, 2013, at 11:43 AM, John Fereira wrote: I have been writing software professionally since around 1980 and first encounterd perl in the early 1990s of so and have *always* disliked it. Last year I had to work on a project that was mostly developed in perl and it reminded me how much I disliked it. As a utility language, and one that I think is good for beginning programmers (especially for those working in a library) I'd recommend PHP over perl every time. I'll agree that there are a few aspects of Perl that can be confusing, as some functions will change behavior depending on context, and there was a lot of bad code examples out there.* ... but I'd recommend almost any current mainstream language before recommending that someone learn PHP. If you're looking to make web pages, learn Ruby. If you're doing data cleanup, Perl if it's lots of text, Python if it's mostly numbers. I should also mention that in the early 1990s would have been Perl 4 ... and unfortunately, most people who learned Perl never learned Perl 5. It's changed a lot over the years. (just like PHP isn't nearly as insecure as it used to be ... and actually supports placeholders so you don't end up with SQL injections) -Joe -- Cary Gordon The Cherry Hill Company
Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?
On Feb 18, 2013, at 11:17 AM, John Fereira wrote: I suggested PHP primarily because I find it easy to read and understand and that's it's very commonly used. Both Drupal and Wordpress are written in PHP and if we're talking about building web pages there are a lot of sites that use one of those as a CMS. And if you're forced to maintain one of those, then by all means, learn PHP ... but please don't recommend that anyone learn it as a first language. ... and I'd like to say that in my mention of Perl, it was only because there's going to be the workshop ... not that I'd necessarily recommend it as a first language for all people ... I'd look at what they were interested in trying to do, and make a recommendation on what would best help them do what they're interested in. I've looked at both good and bad perl code, some written some very accomplished software developers, and I still don't like it. I am not personally interested in learning to make web pages (I've been making them for 20 years) and have mostly dabbled in Ruby but suspect that I'll be doing a lot more programming in Ruby (and will be attending the LibDevConX workshop at Stanford next month where I'm sure we'll be discussing Hydra). I'm also somewhat familiar with Python but I just haven't found that many people are using it in my institution (where I've worked for the past 15 years) to spend any time learning more about it. If you're going to suggest mainstream languages I'm not sure how you can omit Java (though just mentioning the word seems to scare people). It's *really* easy to omit Java: http://www.recursivity.com/blog/2012/10/28/ides-are-a-language-smell/ ... not to mention all of the security vulnerabilities and memory headaches associated with anything that runs in a VM. You might as well ask why I didn't suggest C or assembler for beginners. That's not to say that I haven't learned things from programming in those languages (and I've even applied tricks from Fortran and IDL in other languages), but I wouldn't recommend any of those languages to someone who's just learning to program. -Joe (ps. I'm grumpier than usual today, as I've been trying to get hpn patched openssh to compile under centos 6 ... so that it can be called by a java daemon that is called by another C program that dynamically generates python and shell scripts ... and executes them but doesn't always check the exit status ... this is one of those times when I wish some people hadn't learned to program, so they'd just hire someone else to write it)
Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?
There is *no* ideal first language. PHP is fine. Perl is fine. All of them are terrible in their own ways. ;-) Any of them will give you an idea of how programming logic works, if you want to stop there. If you don't, you mustn't stick with just one language. They all have their problems, and the only way to know how they complement each other is to learn how different languages work. You will find your favorites. You will grow to hate some of them. Have fun, Hugh On Feb 18, 2013, at 12:37 , Joe Hourcle onei...@grace.nascom.nasa.gov wrote: On Feb 18, 2013, at 11:17 AM, John Fereira wrote: I suggested PHP primarily because I find it easy to read and understand and that's it's very commonly used. Both Drupal and Wordpress are written in PHP and if we're talking about building web pages there are a lot of sites that use one of those as a CMS. And if you're forced to maintain one of those, then by all means, learn PHP ... but please don't recommend that anyone learn it as a first language. ... and I'd like to say that in my mention of Perl, it was only because there's going to be the workshop ... not that I'd necessarily recommend it as a first language for all people ... I'd look at what they were interested in trying to do, and make a recommendation on what would best help them do what they're interested in. I've looked at both good and bad perl code, some written some very accomplished software developers, and I still don't like it. I am not personally interested in learning to make web pages (I've been making them for 20 years) and have mostly dabbled in Ruby but suspect that I'll be doing a lot more programming in Ruby (and will be attending the LibDevConX workshop at Stanford next month where I'm sure we'll be discussing Hydra). I'm also somewhat familiar with Python but I just haven't found that many people are using it in my institution (where I've worked for the past 15 years) to spend any time learning more about it. If you're going to suggest mainstream languages I'm not sure how you can omit Java (though just mentioning the word seems to scare people). It's *really* easy to omit Java: http://www.recursivity.com/blog/2012/10/28/ides-are-a-language-smell/ ... not to mention all of the security vulnerabilities and memory headaches associated with anything that runs in a VM. You might as well ask why I didn't suggest C or assembler for beginners. That's not to say that I haven't learned things from programming in those languages (and I've even applied tricks from Fortran and IDL in other languages), but I wouldn't recommend any of those languages to someone who's just learning to program. -Joe (ps. I'm grumpier than usual today, as I've been trying to get hpn patched openssh to compile under centos 6 ... so that it can be called by a java daemon that is called by another C program that dynamically generates python and shell scripts ... and executes them but doesn't always check the exit status ... this is one of those times when I wish some people hadn't learned to program, so they'd just hire someone else to write it)
Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?
-Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Joe Hourcle Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 12:37 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I? On Feb 18, 2013, at 11:17 AM, John Fereira wrote: I suggested PHP primarily because I find it easy to read and understand and that's it's very commonly used. Both Drupal and Wordpress are written in PHP and if we're talking about building web pages there are a lot of sites that use one of those as a CMS. And if you're forced to maintain one of those, then by all means, learn PHP ... but please don't recommend that anyone learn it as a first language. And the reason that I suggested PHP is that one is more likely going to be *forced* to learn PHP because it's so much more commonly used than something like Haskell, or R, or even Python. I've looked at both good and bad perl code, some written some very accomplished software developers, and I still don't like it. I am not personally interested in learning to make web pages (I've been making them for 20 years) and have mostly dabbled in Ruby but suspect that I'll be doing a lot more programming in Ruby (and will be attending the LibDevConX workshop at Stanford next month where I'm sure we'll be discussing Hydra). I'm also somewhat familiar with Python but I just haven't found that many people are using it in my institution (where I've worked for the past 15 years) to spend any time learning more about it. If you're going to suggest mainstream languages I'm not sure how you can omit Java (though just mentioning the word seems to scare people). It's *really* easy to omit Java: http://www.recursivity.com/blog/2012/10/28/ides-are-a-language-smell/ I generally take articles like that with a large heaping of salt when it's fairly obvious that someone is biased against a specific language but that article seems to be more about using an IDE than using Java. In any case, I really didn't start using an IDE (I wrote all my code using a unix text editor) until several years after I learned Java. You might as well ask why I didn't suggest C or assembler for beginners. That's not to say that I haven't learned things from programming in those languages (and I've even applied tricks from Fortran and IDL in other languages), but I wouldn't recommend any of those languages to someone who's just learning to program. I remember when Pascal used to be the language of choice (actually, I remember when it was Basic) as an instructional programming language, but I cut my programming teeth using assembly language (more like the raw octal representation) and Fortran before I learned C. -Joe (ps. I'm grumpier than usual today, as I've been trying to get hpn patched openssh to compile under centos 6 ... so that it can be called by a java daemon that is called by another C program that dynamically generates python and shell scripts ... and executes them but doesn't always check the exit status ... this is one of those times when I wish some people hadn't learned to program, so they'd just hire someone else to write it) I feel your pain. I've had plenty of days like that as well.
Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?
Not to be too pragmatic about it, but it is worth noting which languages are used in the wilds beyond the confines of our libraries. http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html I know everyone has their own style, but I would push newbies towards object-oriented languages, such as C# or Java first. Working in an enforced object-oriented programming [OOP] environment seems like an excellent first step. Moving from either of those languages to Ruby (which is more compatible with procedural programming) is quite simple then. Clearly I am preaching from the pulpit of OOP though. Mark / UF -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of John Fereira Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 1:17 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I? -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Joe Hourcle Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 12:37 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I? On Feb 18, 2013, at 11:17 AM, John Fereira wrote: I suggested PHP primarily because I find it easy to read and understand and that's it's very commonly used. Both Drupal and Wordpress are written in PHP and if we're talking about building web pages there are a lot of sites that use one of those as a CMS. And if you're forced to maintain one of those, then by all means, learn PHP ... but please don't recommend that anyone learn it as a first language. And the reason that I suggested PHP is that one is more likely going to be *forced* to learn PHP because it's so much more commonly used than something like Haskell, or R, or even Python. I've looked at both good and bad perl code, some written some very accomplished software developers, and I still don't like it. I am not personally interested in learning to make web pages (I've been making them for 20 years) and have mostly dabbled in Ruby but suspect that I'll be doing a lot more programming in Ruby (and will be attending the LibDevConX workshop at Stanford next month where I'm sure we'll be discussing Hydra). I'm also somewhat familiar with Python but I just haven't found that many people are using it in my institution (where I've worked for the past 15 years) to spend any time learning more about it. If you're going to suggest mainstream languages I'm not sure how you can omit Java (though just mentioning the word seems to scare people). It's *really* easy to omit Java: http://www.recursivity.com/blog/2012/10/28/ides-are-a-language-smell/ I generally take articles like that with a large heaping of salt when it's fairly obvious that someone is biased against a specific language but that article seems to be more about using an IDE than using Java. In any case, I really didn't start using an IDE (I wrote all my code using a unix text editor) until several years after I learned Java. You might as well ask why I didn't suggest C or assembler for beginners. That's not to say that I haven't learned things from programming in those languages (and I've even applied tricks from Fortran and IDL in other languages), but I wouldn't recommend any of those languages to someone who's just learning to program. I remember when Pascal used to be the language of choice (actually, I remember when it was Basic) as an instructional programming language, but I cut my programming teeth using assembly language (more like the raw octal representation) and Fortran before I learned C. -Joe (ps. I'm grumpier than usual today, as I've been trying to get hpn patched openssh to compile under centos 6 ... so that it can be called by a java daemon that is called by another C program that dynamically generates python and shell scripts ... and executes them but doesn't always check the exit status ... this is one of those times when I wish some people hadn't learned to program, so they'd just hire someone else to write it) I feel your pain. I've had plenty of days like that as well.
Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?
First, I have not been programming nearly as long as any of you - just shy of 20 years now. I learned to program in C++ first. Then Java. Then Assembly. I use none of them now, but I still implement some habits and principles I learned from those in the languages I use now. It probably isn't the best path for you, but it was my path. My recommendation to those interested in coding, either professionally or as a hobby, is to find your passion - find an application you can immediately have an impact on, and see the result - and then get picky with the language, if you must. For me, at least, the most infuriating thing was not having an application to apply whatever new skill I picked up on. On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 10:24 AM, Sullivan, Mark V mars...@uflib.ufl.eduwrote: Not to be too pragmatic about it, but it is worth noting which languages are used in the wilds beyond the confines of our libraries. http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html I know everyone has their own style, but I would push newbies towards object-oriented languages, such as C# or Java first. Working in an enforced object-oriented programming [OOP] environment seems like an excellent first step. Moving from either of those languages to Ruby (which is more compatible with procedural programming) is quite simple then. Clearly I am preaching from the pulpit of OOP though. Mark / UF -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of John Fereira Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 1:17 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I? -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Joe Hourcle Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 12:37 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I? On Feb 18, 2013, at 11:17 AM, John Fereira wrote: I suggested PHP primarily because I find it easy to read and understand and that's it's very commonly used. Both Drupal and Wordpress are written in PHP and if we're talking about building web pages there are a lot of sites that use one of those as a CMS. And if you're forced to maintain one of those, then by all means, learn PHP ... but please don't recommend that anyone learn it as a first language. And the reason that I suggested PHP is that one is more likely going to be *forced* to learn PHP because it's so much more commonly used than something like Haskell, or R, or even Python. I've looked at both good and bad perl code, some written some very accomplished software developers, and I still don't like it. I am not personally interested in learning to make web pages (I've been making them for 20 years) and have mostly dabbled in Ruby but suspect that I'll be doing a lot more programming in Ruby (and will be attending the LibDevConX workshop at Stanford next month where I'm sure we'll be discussing Hydra). I'm also somewhat familiar with Python but I just haven't found that many people are using it in my institution (where I've worked for the past 15 years) to spend any time learning more about it. If you're going to suggest mainstream languages I'm not sure how you can omit Java (though just mentioning the word seems to scare people). It's *really* easy to omit Java: http://www.recursivity.com/blog/2012/10/28/ides-are-a-language-smell/ I generally take articles like that with a large heaping of salt when it's fairly obvious that someone is biased against a specific language but that article seems to be more about using an IDE than using Java. In any case, I really didn't start using an IDE (I wrote all my code using a unix text editor) until several years after I learned Java. You might as well ask why I didn't suggest C or assembler for beginners. That's not to say that I haven't learned things from programming in those languages (and I've even applied tricks from Fortran and IDL in other languages), but I wouldn't recommend any of those languages to someone who's just learning to program. I remember when Pascal used to be the language of choice (actually, I remember when it was Basic) as an instructional programming language, but I cut my programming teeth using assembly language (more like the raw octal representation) and Fortran before I learned C. -Joe (ps. I'm grumpier than usual today, as I've been trying to get hpn patched openssh to compile under centos 6 ... so that it can be called by a java daemon that is called by another C program that dynamically generates python and shell scripts ... and executes them but doesn't always check the exit status ... this is one of those times when I wish some people hadn't learned to program, so they'd just hire someone else to write it) I feel your pain. I've had plenty of days like that as well.
Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?
To be pedantic, Ruby and JavaScript are more Object Oriented than Java because they don't have primitives and (in Ruby's case) because classes are themselves objects. Unlike Java, both Python and Ruby can properly override of static methods on sub-classes. The Java language made many compromises as it was designed as a bridge to Object Oriented programming for programmers who were used to writing C and C++. -Justin On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 12:24 PM, Sullivan, Mark V mars...@uflib.ufl.eduwrote: Not to be too pragmatic about it, but it is worth noting which languages are used in the wilds beyond the confines of our libraries. http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html I know everyone has their own style, but I would push newbies towards object-oriented languages, such as C# or Java first. Working in an enforced object-oriented programming [OOP] environment seems like an excellent first step. Moving from either of those languages to Ruby (which is more compatible with procedural programming) is quite simple then. Clearly I am preaching from the pulpit of OOP though. Mark / UF -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of John Fereira Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 1:17 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I? -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Joe Hourcle Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 12:37 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I? On Feb 18, 2013, at 11:17 AM, John Fereira wrote: I suggested PHP primarily because I find it easy to read and understand and that's it's very commonly used. Both Drupal and Wordpress are written in PHP and if we're talking about building web pages there are a lot of sites that use one of those as a CMS. And if you're forced to maintain one of those, then by all means, learn PHP ... but please don't recommend that anyone learn it as a first language. And the reason that I suggested PHP is that one is more likely going to be *forced* to learn PHP because it's so much more commonly used than something like Haskell, or R, or even Python. I've looked at both good and bad perl code, some written some very accomplished software developers, and I still don't like it. I am not personally interested in learning to make web pages (I've been making them for 20 years) and have mostly dabbled in Ruby but suspect that I'll be doing a lot more programming in Ruby (and will be attending the LibDevConX workshop at Stanford next month where I'm sure we'll be discussing Hydra). I'm also somewhat familiar with Python but I just haven't found that many people are using it in my institution (where I've worked for the past 15 years) to spend any time learning more about it. If you're going to suggest mainstream languages I'm not sure how you can omit Java (though just mentioning the word seems to scare people). It's *really* easy to omit Java: http://www.recursivity.com/blog/2012/10/28/ides-are-a-language-smell/ I generally take articles like that with a large heaping of salt when it's fairly obvious that someone is biased against a specific language but that article seems to be more about using an IDE than using Java. In any case, I really didn't start using an IDE (I wrote all my code using a unix text editor) until several years after I learned Java. You might as well ask why I didn't suggest C or assembler for beginners. That's not to say that I haven't learned things from programming in those languages (and I've even applied tricks from Fortran and IDL in other languages), but I wouldn't recommend any of those languages to someone who's just learning to program. I remember when Pascal used to be the language of choice (actually, I remember when it was Basic) as an instructional programming language, but I cut my programming teeth using assembly language (more like the raw octal representation) and Fortran before I learned C. -Joe (ps. I'm grumpier than usual today, as I've been trying to get hpn patched openssh to compile under centos 6 ... so that it can be called by a java daemon that is called by another C program that dynamically generates python and shell scripts ... and executes them but doesn't always check the exit status ... this is one of those times when I wish some people hadn't learned to program, so they'd just hire someone else to write it) I feel your pain. I've had plenty of days like that as well.
Re: [CODE4LIB] Follow-up to my c4l13 lightning talk (emotion, interactive fiction, and linked data)
Mark, your blog post gives me pointers and directions that will take weeks to follow, but I'm glad to have a starting point. Thanks. Your references to hypertext and creation with hypertext remind me of David Lankes' library as conversation [1]. I like the ongoing, always moving, always changing view of libraries and archives, as opposed to the finite set of things we own view. I want a library that consists of the stuff plus the conversation between the authors and the users, and between users and users. What's important about the stuff is HOW it is used. Someone at d4l13 mentioned user-generated metadata and I wrote down: what about USE-generated metadata? What people do with a book may be more important the the (inert) book itself. So that's what I'm thinking about. Basically a library of people who use resources, not a library of resources that ignores their use. kc [1] http://informationr.net/ir/12-4/colis05.html and his book Atlas of New Librarianship at http://www.newlibrarianship.org/wordpress/?author=1 On 2/18/13 7:15 AM, Mark A. Matienzo wrote: I want to thank the code4lib community for the opportunity to present my lightning talk [0] at the conference last week. As I could tell from the positive feedback I got in person and via email and Twitter, there wasn't enough time to unpack all my ideas in 5 minutes. Accordingly, I wrote up a blog post to expand some of the ideas and give them a better context [1]. If you're curious or have ideas I'd love to have your feedback. I know I owe several of you emails - I'll get back to you soon! xo, Mark [0] http://matienzo.org/storage/2013/2013Feb-code4lib-lightning-talk [1] http://matienzo.org/blog/2013/emotion-archives-interactive-fiction-linked-data/ -- Karen Coyle kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net ph: 1-510-540-7596 m: 1-510-435-8234 skype: kcoylenet
Re: [CODE4LIB] Getting started with Ruby and library-ish data (was RE: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?)
I've heard similar good things about Codecademy from a friend who recently wanted to start learning programming along with his teenage son. It seems like a good gateway drug :) I introduced my 11-year-old to the Javascript-based animation tutorials on Khan Academy and he found them really fun. I have him use IRB to calculate his math homework. I don't care which, if any, language he prefers. It's more important to me that he's able to think under the hood a bit about computers, data, and what's possible. I've been thinking alot about how to introduce not only my kids, but some of our cataloging/technical staff to thinking programmatically or computationally[1] or whatever you want to call it. For me, Ruby will likely be the tool - especially since it's so easy to install on Windows now, too. In her wisdom, Diane Hillman (I think), pointed out the need for catalogers to be able talk to programmers. Personally, that's what I'm after... to equip people to think about problems, data, and networks differently, e.g. No, you really don't have to look up each record individually in the catalog and check the link, etc. 1. http://www.google.com/edu/computational-thinking/ Jason Stirnaman Digital Projects Librarian A.R. Dykes Library University of Kansas Medical Center 913-588-7319 From: Code for Libraries [CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] on behalf of Matthew Sherman [matt.r.sher...@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 10:18 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Getting started with Ruby and library-ish data (was RE: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?) Getting back to the original point so noting some nice starting tools, I find http://www.codecademy.com to be a decent starting spot for those of us without much computer science background. I am not sure what professional developers think of the site but I find it a helpful to tutorial to start getting a basic understanding of scripting, Ruby, JavaScript, Python, JQuery, APIs, ect. Hope that helps. Matt Sherman On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 7:52 AM, Jason Stirnaman jstirna...@kumc.eduwrote: This is a terribly distorted view of Ruby: If you want to make web pages, learn Ruby, and you don't need to learn Rails to get the benefit of Ruby's awesomeness. But, everyone will have their own opinions. There's no accounting for taste. For anyone interested in learning to program and hack around with library data or linked data, here are some places to start (heavily biased toward the elegance of Ruby): http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Working_with_MaRC https://delicious.com/jstirnaman/ruby+books https://delicious.com/jstirnaman/ruby+tutorials http://rdf.rubyforge.org/ Jason Jason Stirnaman Digital Projects Librarian A.R. Dykes Library University of Kansas Medical Center 913-588-7319 From: Code for Libraries [CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] on behalf of Joe Hourcle [onei...@grace.nascom.nasa.gov] Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 12:52 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I? On Feb 17, 2013, at 11:43 AM, John Fereira wrote: I have been writing software professionally since around 1980 and first encounterd perl in the early 1990s of so and have *always* disliked it. Last year I had to work on a project that was mostly developed in perl and it reminded me how much I disliked it. As a utility language, and one that I think is good for beginning programmers (especially for those working in a library) I'd recommend PHP over perl every time. I'll agree that there are a few aspects of Perl that can be confusing, as some functions will change behavior depending on context, and there was a lot of bad code examples out there.* ... but I'd recommend almost any current mainstream language before recommending that someone learn PHP. If you're looking to make web pages, learn Ruby. If you're doing data cleanup, Perl if it's lots of text, Python if it's mostly numbers. I should also mention that in the early 1990s would have been Perl 4 ... and unfortunately, most people who learned Perl never learned Perl 5. It's changed a lot over the years. (just like PHP isn't nearly as insecure as it used to be ... and actually supports placeholders so you don't end up with SQL injections) -Joe
Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?
Good advice. Sometimes you have to look for opportunities to learn new skills. Awhile back I was asked by a colleague to write a program to process some research data (it was actually related to something I've worked on) and since it was going to be a one off program I decided to use a noSQL database (MongoDB) in the implementation even though I could have used something I was more familiar with. I haven't used MongoDB since but at least I'm familiar with it enough now that I won't be starting from scratch if I'm forced to use it later. -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Mark Pernotto Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 1:38 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I? My recommendation to those interested in coding, either professionally or as a hobby, is to find your passion - find an application you can immediately have an impact on, and see the result - and then get picky with the language, if you must. For me, at least, the most infuriating thing was not having an application to apply whatever new skill I picked up on.
Re: [CODE4LIB] Getting started with Ruby and library-ish data (was RE: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?)
I am going to second and third and fourth www.codeschool.com. I know codecademy gets a lot of love, but I'm pretty sure that's only because people don't know about Code School. I would turn to NetTuts courses for PHP, especially Laravel 4 (greatest PHP-thing ever), but that's *only because Code School focuses more on Ruby than PHP.* Not to belabor the point ... - well, yes, to belabor it: www.codeschool.com for the win. Michael / Front-End Librarian at www.ns4lib.com and The Web for Libraries Weekly -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of James Stuart Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 2:23 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Getting started with Ruby and library-ish data (was RE: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?) I'll put a rec out for CodeSchool. They started mostly with ruby, but they've expanded into a wide array of courses (only a few of which are free). But they're slick, well thought-through affairs, and Try Ruby/Rails for Zombies is still I think the best introduction to Rails out there. http://www.codeschool.com/ On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 2:04 PM, Jason Stirnaman jstirna...@kumc.eduwrote: I've heard similar good things about Codecademy from a friend who recently wanted to start learning programming along with his teenage son. It seems like a good gateway drug :) I introduced my 11-year-old to the Javascript-based animation tutorials on Khan Academy and he found them really fun. I have him use IRB to calculate his math homework. I don't care which, if any, language he prefers. It's more important to me that he's able to think under the hood a bit about computers, data, and what's possible. I've been thinking alot about how to introduce not only my kids, but some of our cataloging/technical staff to thinking programmatically or computationally[1] or whatever you want to call it. For me, Ruby will likely be the tool - especially since it's so easy to install on Windows now, too. In her wisdom, Diane Hillman (I think), pointed out the need for catalogers to be able talk to programmers. Personally, that's what I'm after... to equip people to think about problems, data, and networks differently, e.g. No, you really don't have to look up each record individually in the catalog and check the link, etc. 1. http://www.google.com/edu/computational-thinking/ Jason Stirnaman Digital Projects Librarian A.R. Dykes Library University of Kansas Medical Center 913-588-7319 From: Code for Libraries [CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] on behalf of Matthew Sherman [matt.r.sher...@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 10:18 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Getting started with Ruby and library-ish data (was RE: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?) Getting back to the original point so noting some nice starting tools, I find http://www.codecademy.com to be a decent starting spot for those of us without much computer science background. I am not sure what professional developers think of the site but I find it a helpful to tutorial to start getting a basic understanding of scripting, Ruby, JavaScript, Python, JQuery, APIs, ect. Hope that helps. Matt Sherman On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 7:52 AM, Jason Stirnaman jstirna...@kumc.edu wrote: This is a terribly distorted view of Ruby: If you want to make web pages, learn Ruby, and you don't need to learn Rails to get the benefit of Ruby's awesomeness. But, everyone will have their own opinions. There's no accounting for taste. For anyone interested in learning to program and hack around with library data or linked data, here are some places to start (heavily biased toward the elegance of Ruby): http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Working_with_MaRC https://delicious.com/jstirnaman/ruby+books https://delicious.com/jstirnaman/ruby+tutorials http://rdf.rubyforge.org/ Jason Jason Stirnaman Digital Projects Librarian A.R. Dykes Library University of Kansas Medical Center 913-588-7319 From: Code for Libraries [CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] on behalf of Joe Hourcle [onei...@grace.nascom.nasa.gov] Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 12:52 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I? On Feb 17, 2013, at 11:43 AM, John Fereira wrote: I have been writing software professionally since around 1980 and first encounterd perl in the early 1990s of so and have *always* disliked it. Last year I had to work on a project that was mostly developed in perl and it reminded me how much I disliked it. As a utility language, and one that I think is good for beginning programmers (especially for those working in a library) I'd recommend PHP over perl every time. I'll agree that there are a few
Re: [CODE4LIB] Getting started with Ruby and library-ish data (was RE: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?)
On 2/18/2013 2:04 PM, Jason Stirnaman wrote: I've been thinking alot about how to introduce not only my kids, but some of our cataloging/technical staff to thinking programmatically or computationally[1] or whatever you want to call it. Do you have an opinion of the google 'computational thinking' curriculum pieces linked off of that page you cite? For instance, at: http://www.google.com/edu/computational-thinking/lessons.html Or at: http://www.iste.org/learn/computational-thinking/ct-toolkit
[CODE4LIB] Job: Media Manager Archivist at Al Jazeera America
The Media Management Specialist is required to have a full overview of all incoming media, identifying problems and issues and escalating them if necessary. They must possess a sound knowledge of server based environments and must be fully conversant with all current video codecs. They must also ensure that all incoming media into the department is treated with due care and processed correctly with all associated metadata. This role requires a detailed understanding of archiving processes, metadata and footage rights. A solid knowledge of news and current affairs within a media environment is required in order to assess content and process it into deep archive. A high level of service and support to all clients is expected, as is the ability to satisfy requests in a timely fashion. The Media Management desk will also manage the SAN - this includes the restoration of archived clips, using the deletion policy to maintain a healthy percentage of server space, the pushing and pulling of content between our broadcast centers and using the tools provided to foresee any technical issues. In additional to this they also manage the transcode and delivery of our content to other AJN channels, managing our FTP sites and the capture or transcode of requested internet content. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES: 1. You will work closely with other team members and AJN (Al Jazeera) staff. You will also actively support your co-workers when they need help. 2. You will have a comprehensive knowledge of a server based news environments along with the associated hardware and software. 3. Acquisition of content: You will have a good understanding of the workflow, process and tools utilized on the media desk. Using this knowledge you will serve the needs of the newsroom and the programs department by making sure content is clearly labeled and sent to the correct destination. 4. You will also be responsible for processing footage in to and out of the Archive Storage. 5. Management of the SAN: You will have a good understanding of our deletion policy to maintain a healthy percentage of sever space, and in a time of crisis knowing what can be deleted to free critical space. 6. Prioritizing restoration requests to avoid bottlenecks and bringing the system to a standstill. 7. AJN content is required to be shared between the broadcast centers and channels - you will need to identify and deliver this content to the other broadcast centers using the inter-site transfer tools. Other channels will request content to be transcoded and delivered using an FTP solution. 8. AJN's broadcast technical standards: You will have a technical understanding of 'Quality Control' and the tools required to achieve this. 9. You will understand the requirement s of live studio production and provide good service and support to all media operations clients. 10. You will be conversant with all current codecs as you will be required to transcode and deliver various compressions; you will also need to keep up-to- date with any advances/changes in technology. 11. Effective Communication: Able to recognize problems early and not hesitate to communicate them to the concerned person(s). 12. Communicating Ideas: Able to offer better solutions utilizing the tools that media operations has available to them. 13. Newsroom system: Able to navigate and possess a solid operational knowledge of how a news bulletin is formatted. OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES: 1. You may be required to travel to assist in times of crisis. 2. Perform other duties relevant to the job as requested. EDUCATION: High School education or higher. SKILLS: An understanding of news and current affairs and an eye for detail. Technical ability within a broadcast environment. A demonstrable understanding video formats, servers, FTP and broadcast production. Fluent English speaker and able to communicate effectively both verbally and written. Able to deal with competing demands and remain calm under pressure. KNOWLEDGE: A good knowledge of video editing tools Operational knowledge of Avid Interplay Familiarity of digital tape/disc formats An excellent knowledge of cataloguing and assigning keywords for content Server production systems Broadcast production workflow Have a firm understanding of broadcast technical standards Possess a sound knowledge with current codecs and the tools required to view and transcode. ABILITIES: Able to work independently and as part of a team Able to work in a stressful and fast paced News environment Able to work in a multi-cultural environment. Able to work in a 24/7 shift base environment A good level of interpersonal skills Ability to work well with others in a collaborative environment or as an individual. Able to multi-task Organised and punctual CORE COMPETENCIES: Al Jazeera ethics and code of conduct Al Jazeera editorial spirit Diversity
Re: [CODE4LIB] Getting started with Ruby and library-ish data (was RE: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?)
On 2/18/13 12:53 PM, Jonathan Rochkind wrote: On 2/18/2013 2:04 PM, Jason Stirnaman wrote: I've been thinking alot about how to introduce not only my kids, but some of our cataloging/technical staff to thinking programmatically or computationally[1] or whatever you want to call it. Do you have an opinion of the google 'computational thinking' curriculum pieces linked off of that page you cite? For instance, at: http://www.google.com/edu/computational-thinking/lessons.html I looked at the Beginning Python one[1], and I have to say that any intro to programming that begins with a giant table of mathematical functions is a #FAIL. Wow - how wrong can you get it? On the other hand, I've been going through the Google online python class [2] and have found it very easy to follow (it's youtubed), and the exercises are interesting. What I want next is more exercises, and someone to talk to about any difficulties I run into. I want a hands-on hacker space learning environment that has a live expert (and you wouldn't have to be terribly expert to answer a beginner's questions). It's very hard to learn programming alone because there are always multiple ways to solve a problem, and an infinite number of places to get stuck. kc [1] http://tinyurl.com/bcj894s [2] https://developers.google.com/edu/python/ Or at: http://www.iste.org/learn/computational-thinking/ct-toolkit -- Karen Coyle kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net ph: 1-510-540-7596 m: 1-510-435-8234 skype: kcoylenet
Re: [CODE4LIB] Getting started with Ruby and library-ish data (was RE: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?)
I'm not advocating the Google CT lessons as the best way to learn Python. Karen, I really like your hacker space idea. Anyone else know of an online environment like that? Another option is maybe a Python IRC channel or a local meetup discussion list. For example, we have a really good Ruby meetup group here in KC that meets once a month. I also know between meetings that I can go to the mail list to get help with my Rails questions. I am interested more in the Google CT lessons in the Data Analysis and English-Language subjects as entry points into how to think differently about your work and about this thing you're hunched over for 8 hours a day. Sure, those lessons focus heavily on spreadsheet functions, but that's a familiar way to introduce the concepts. I think it could also be adapted to Ruby, Python, whatever. Jason Jason Stirnaman Digital Projects Librarian A.R. Dykes Library University of Kansas Medical Center 913-588-7319 From: Code for Libraries [CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] on behalf of Karen Coyle [li...@kcoyle.net] Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 3:25 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Getting started with Ruby and library-ish data (was RE: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?) On 2/18/13 12:53 PM, Jonathan Rochkind wrote: On 2/18/2013 2:04 PM, Jason Stirnaman wrote: I've been thinking alot about how to introduce not only my kids, but some of our cataloging/technical staff to thinking programmatically or computationally[1] or whatever you want to call it. Do you have an opinion of the google 'computational thinking' curriculum pieces linked off of that page you cite? For instance, at: http://www.google.com/edu/computational-thinking/lessons.html I looked at the Beginning Python one[1], and I have to say that any intro to programming that begins with a giant table of mathematical functions is a #FAIL. Wow - how wrong can you get it? On the other hand, I've been going through the Google online python class [2] and have found it very easy to follow (it's youtubed), and the exercises are interesting. What I want next is more exercises, and someone to talk to about any difficulties I run into. I want a hands-on hacker space learning environment that has a live expert (and you wouldn't have to be terribly expert to answer a beginner's questions). It's very hard to learn programming alone because there are always multiple ways to solve a problem, and an infinite number of places to get stuck. kc [1] http://tinyurl.com/bcj894s [2] https://developers.google.com/edu/python/ Or at: http://www.iste.org/learn/computational-thinking/ct-toolkit -- Karen Coyle kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net ph: 1-510-540-7596 m: 1-510-435-8234 skype: kcoylenet
Re: [CODE4LIB] Getting started with Ruby and library-ish data (was RE: [CODE4LIB] You *are* a coder. So what am I?)
As far as python goes, this has a quick sense of pacing, and has a lot of interactive exercises, while building something pretty useful in the end. https://www.udacity.com/ (CS101) It goes into a little bit more theory then I think is useful for some folks, but it's still a great resource. On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 4:25 PM, Karen Coyle li...@kcoyle.net wrote: On 2/18/13 12:53 PM, Jonathan Rochkind wrote: On 2/18/2013 2:04 PM, Jason Stirnaman wrote: I've been thinking alot about how to introduce not only my kids, but some of our cataloging/technical staff to thinking programmatically or computationally[1] or whatever you want to call it. Do you have an opinion of the google 'computational thinking' curriculum pieces linked off of that page you cite? For instance, at: http://www.google.com/edu/**computational-thinking/**lessons.htmlhttp://www.google.com/edu/computational-thinking/lessons.html I looked at the Beginning Python one[1], and I have to say that any intro to programming that begins with a giant table of mathematical functions is a #FAIL. Wow - how wrong can you get it? On the other hand, I've been going through the Google online python class [2] and have found it very easy to follow (it's youtubed), and the exercises are interesting. What I want next is more exercises, and someone to talk to about any difficulties I run into. I want a hands-on hacker space learning environment that has a live expert (and you wouldn't have to be terribly expert to answer a beginner's questions). It's very hard to learn programming alone because there are always multiple ways to solve a problem, and an infinite number of places to get stuck. kc [1] http://tinyurl.com/bcj894s [2] https://developers.google.com/**edu/python/https://developers.google.com/edu/python/ Or at: http://www.iste.org/learn/**computational-thinking/ct-**toolkithttp://www.iste.org/learn/computational-thinking/ct-toolkit -- Karen Coyle kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net ph: 1-510-540-7596 m: 1-510-435-8234 skype: kcoylenet
Re: [CODE4LIB] Follow-up to my c4l13 lightning talk (emotion, interactive fiction, and linked data)
Mark, Thank you so much for this. Both your talk, and this essay, are amazing. I feel like there's 4-6 months worth of material to explore contemplate in your post, and marvel at how clearly you've been able to articulate the last 4-6 months of your own thinking. I was tempted to open my response with anarchivist++, partly as an allusion to your point about protological control, and partly to point out that in our own community here we have a form of that as well, though unlike facebook's like, it is both owned by beholden to _us_... I'm not sure why I think that makes a difference, but I do. Like Karen, I can say that your words have shone a light on something that I've also tried to understand. I hear you speaking to what I've tried to describe as an opportunity to merge an archive's or a library's narrative with the narratives of users, scholars, researchers other interested parties who engage both the resources in our collections the ideas, people organizations those resource describe. As I read your post, I realize how much the slides in my own talk about narrative and about context are derivative of the conversations you I have had on many occasions. I think you've hit on something extremely important about the emerging changes in scholarly publication, and publication in general, and how they relate to the resources in library, archive, and museum collections. The relationship between annotation, research, publishing, conversation, and narrative... I've also been thinking about that a lot, and now realize one of the missing pieces is emotion. Looking forward to talking about this more, -Corey On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 10:15 AM, Mark A. Matienzo mark.matie...@gmail.com wrote: I want to thank the code4lib community for the opportunity to present my lightning talk [0] at the conference last week. As I could tell from the positive feedback I got in person and via email and Twitter, there wasn't enough time to unpack all my ideas in 5 minutes. Accordingly, I wrote up a blog post to expand some of the ideas and give them a better context [1]. If you're curious or have ideas I'd love to have your feedback. I know I owe several of you emails - I'll get back to you soon! xo, Mark [0] http://matienzo.org/storage/2013/2013Feb-code4lib-lightning-talk [1] http://matienzo.org/blog/2013/emotion-archives-interactive-fiction-linked-data/ -- Corey A Harper Metadata Services Librarian New York University Libraries 20 Cooper Square, 3rd Floor New York, NY 10003-7112 212.998.2479 corey.har...@nyu.edu
