On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 9:31 PM, Mel Chua - m...@redhat.com wrote: > Congratulations to the new members of our POSSE 2011 cohort! > > * > http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/POSSE_2011_applicants#Mihaela_Sabin > > We now have 6 out of 15 seats filled, and 2 new applications. Here they > are, with my comments: > > http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/POSSE_2011_applicants#Elinor_Madigan > > I like this application a lot - it sounds like they've already got > something excellent going here with the introduction of Python, and > getting some contact with the expert Python dev community (possibly > flying over a dev or sending some students over to PyCon with course > funding) would really help them flourish. I know we can connect them > with Fedora's Python development community; I don't know Ubuntu's Python > community personally but I'm sure there are people there who'd be very > receptive to helping out and making sure both platforms are supported if > students need both. We should be able to find enough novice Python > bounties to make fun little projects - I wonder how the students would > fare in navigating larger codebases/projects to make small patches? That > would increase the pool we can draw from. This gets at +1 from me - any > other thoughts?
About programming in general: I hope everyone that teaches any programming language has been exposed to "The Psychology of Computer Programming" by Gerald M. Weinberg (http://www.geraldmweinberg.com/Site/Programming_Psychology.html). If I hadn't misplaced my copy of the 1971 edition, I'd confirm he was the person who asserted the first programming language we learn strongly determines how we program for the rest of our lives. That is especially important, because some languages are better for some problems than others and if we try to use one language's techniques in another language's syntax, we often end with a sloppy implementation of a solution which is buggy and difficult to maintain. About any particular programming language: I am sure the Publishing companies have a vested interest in exposing any student to their line of textbooks. Perhaps one or more of them would be inclined to sponsor an author's visit to a class studying the language the author studied well enough to write a book? About Python specifically: It might be informative to review what happened to the "Fourth Grade Math" Sugar Labs project (http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/fourthgrademath/), especially as to what may be accomplished within one semester. Entry into any project (open or proprietary) within a semester is a challenge. But that alone is a good educational experience. ("The Mythical Man-Month" is probably relevant here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-201-00650-2).) "I would like to investigate how Python and PHP work together." I understand there have been religious flame wars about which interpreted language is the best. (There are, at least, three P's you know, (In alphabetical order.) Perl, PHP, and Python.) Since the beginning premise of any language developer tends to be "What we need is one, good language.", this would be an interesting investigation that could inform a beginner's understanding of what challenges there are to designing and building a language, but don't expect too many folks helping you determine how any two can be used together. The Blender idea would seem more what a professional programmer would be asked to do, maintain or extend an existing product. > http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/POSSE_2011_applicants#Allen_White > > I'd also love to be able to reach out to this student population - also, > the school uses a *ton* of FOSS - the tool-skills are there, it might > just be the specifics of working with an open source upstream that are > needed - and it would be great to get them started contributing back to > their upstreams - finding a doable project (or projects, for multiple > small teams) that will fit with their timeframe might be the main > challenge here, and again, it sounds like access to a community of > developers would be a huge benefit. I'm scratching my head over projects > that could support local cultural preservation while still plugging them > into a broad developer community, and wrap nicely after the year is over > without much need for ongoing maintenance. Perhaps the students could do > a deployment of a CMS system for an exhibit and write custom > modules/patches for that upstream - we'll have to look around. Also a +1 > from me, but I'd love to hear thoughts since Moodle, etc. and web > systems aren't my area of expertise. > "the only faculty member dedicated to Computing." That, plus the return from corporate computing to academia, makes this a definite +1 for me. I sure hope Allen continues to enjoy a "very wide latitude in the construction of my courses and in the development of our curriculum" and the cooperation of his IT staff (even if it is only "obsolete" hand me downs). > Comments, questions, etc. on either application would be most appreciated! > > If you're interested in POSSE but haven't applied yet, head to > http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/POSSE#Apply - there are only 9 > seats left, so send those apps in now! Please holler if you've got any > questions. > > Cheers, > > --Mel > _______________________________________________ > tos mailing list > tos@teachingopensource.org > http://teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos > > _______________________________________________ tos mailing list tos@teachingopensource.org http://teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos
