Hello folks, I just wanted to mention something I am putting together to support a class or course I intend to give on the fundamentals of computer programming.
I wanted to mention it here because it is both inspired by the work of VPRI and FoNC, and meant to act as a sort of "feeder course" into deeper waters (specifically the kinds of systems and tools being researched at VPRI.) Also, I would really welcome any feedback or advice about how to proceed. I've never run a course before and I'm not sure how to begin. So, what I've made is a very simple GUI that contains: * An assembler for the ATmega328P micro-controller. * Meta-II * Forth-like firmware in assembly for the micro-controller . * Very simple high-level Meta-II language for assembly control structures. And the IDE itself is a stack-based fully-FP virtual machine that can be programmed using minuscule LISP-like not-quite-language. GPL'd Source code: https://github.com/PhoenixBureau/PigeonComputer Draft manual: http://phoenixbureau.github.com/PigeonComputer/ I made an announcement on python-announce-list with more information: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-announce-list/2012-December/009713.html Although nearly a toy by the standards of most of us reading this message I'm sure, nonetheless I am building a robot and programming it via this system. It is not meant so much as a "production" system as a model with enough real relevance to prepare normal everyday people for, say, a college course on C++, and permit them to have a fighting chance at knowing what's going on "under the hood" of the compiler. It's no good having "vocational training for Java programmers", without real understanding users are just another kind of factory worker (meaning no disparagement of factory workers) rather than minds empowered with calculating engines. But I'm preaching to the choir, yes? Warm regards, and happy holidays, ~Simon -- "The history of mankind for the last four centuries is rather like that of an imprisoned sleeper, stirring clumsily and uneasily while the prison that restrains and shelters him catches fire, not waking but incorporating the crackling and warmth of the fire with ancient and incongruous dreams, than like that of a man consciously awake to danger and opportunity." --H. P. Wells, "A Short History of the World" _______________________________________________ fonc mailing list [email protected] http://vpri.org/mailman/listinfo/fonc
