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Computer Camps For The Summer
An Anonymous Coward, with an outlook a few months away and many degrees warmer, asks: "My nephew (older teenager) is wanting to spend a summer in the U.S., preferably learning some college computer stuff. Anyone have any recommendations for a cool place
to spend the summer? Any universities running such
programs as he's pretty computer literate?"
I have gone to, and worked for CTY. I have to say they traditionally have had a spectacular introductory computer science course. In recent years most of the people responsible for designing a lot of their (IMHO) better courses (such as Theoretical Introduction to Computer Science, Number Theory, Digital Logic, and Introduction to Neuroscience) have left CTY for a number of reasons, including sometimes significant philosophical differences with the administration about how the courses should be run. In recent years it looks like they have added a number of new course, such as Cryptography, but I worry that people going are in essence buying what was recently a good brand name, as opposed to a good education experience.
I know, I taught several of the lectures for the Boston Alumni Group last year ;-)
Louis
Plus, Ann Arbor is a really nice place in the summer!
When I was a kid, i spent 4 consecutive summers at Camp Watonka. It's not just a computer science camp, but a well-rounded and fun summer experience. It's in Hawley PA, and all the info on their programs is on their website. The only problem is that its all boys :(, which on the other hand might not be so bad for you goatse.cx fans, :-D
"Dancing is the vertical expression of a horizontal desire" --Robert Frost
But the main reason I would recomend sending your child there is the great staff. Composed mainly of college students, every one of them really knows their stuff, and they love doing it. I know of one counselor who is currently working for Monster Games, another who (I believe) was working for SquareSoft for a while, and another who is currently working for VALinux and Sourceforge. (Me, well I'm still in school, but feel free to check out one of my OS products... Althea... Link at bottom...)
Last year I actually looked into what other camps are offering, and the other camps (who I won't name) tend to have one general "programming" class or an "Internet Class." Well, Computer Ed has about 40 computer related classes to choose from. (plus a few sports oriented classes to get some of that energy out of them...)
So, yeah, if your kid is interested in Computers I'd definately recommend Computer Ed. I think their number is 1-888-2COMPED. Tell them Ethan gave you their number.
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For a stable IMAP E-mail client for X-windows, check out Althea (http://althea.sourceforge.net)
They have a really cool summer engineering program, for anyone that has an interest in any type of engineering. Only juniors are allowed in, so there is a little bit of "recruiting" going on. It's 3 weeks, and tons of fun. A nice mix of Sports and other fun activities also.
The thing is run by the school, with real profs doing the teaching, and students from the school are the consolers.
I had a blast, check it out... http://www.rose-hulman.edu/catapult/
When I was 13 (turning 14) I got a job at a computer firm that did all Microsoft stuff. I had been using Linux then and years before then but I'd settle for a computer job even if it didn't involve Linux. All our software that we write is very (very) heavy database oriented. Despite it revolving all around Microsoft product, I still was able to learn a lot since relationship databases, no matter who they're implemented by, always have the same concept. This allowed me to start playing with SQL on my own after gaining a large amount of experience with MS Access / SQL at work. While I did no programming while there, I was still able to gain enormous knowledge from in particular two guys who worked there. Whenever I had a question about C or math (of effectively any level), the one was always able to help me. The other was also very smart and taught me about state machines, discrete math, etc. All of those things I consider completely indespensible to know. I still work at the same company. It's been almost two years. While it is possible, I find it nearly _impossible_ to learn computer science of any sort (on a smaller scale, math) to any sort of deep understanding in a class setting. Luckily, I'm quite an independant learner and would rather be left to my own devices in order to learn. A camp setting would most likely drive me mad. By your relative (can't remember the relation, been typing too long) some good books and maybe even try to help him find a job.
"Nature doesn't care how smart you are. You can still be wrong." - Richard Feynman
As a high school student, I had the opportunity to sign up for the NexTech program which is located in Austin, TX. It only lasts for ten days so it may not be exactly what you are looking for. However, it seems like the exposure to the industry would be very insightful. The only drawback (and the reason that I didn't go myself) was the price involved. You are looking at a $2000 price tag just on the program itself. That doesn't include airfare to and from Austin. If you can afford to spend $2000 for ten days and are looking for something that says 'National Leadership Conference' to present to colleges and universities during the college-application process, go for it!
(Okay, okay, so you've heard that one, what can I say, I'm a sucker for the classics).
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www.scorbett.ca
I have friend who is going for a month to a place in Washington called Digikey.
Its for high-school level people, and it teaches you to program.
For younger kids, Johns Hopkins' CTY is one of the best programs ever. The curriculum is high level with a great deal of individual attention despite a large number of people on each campus.
For older kids, why not just get a job. There are lot of internship programs. In the Washington area there is one such program through George Washington University, which I wasn't able to find a page for.
I volunteered as a counselor at one of the locations of National Computer Camps one summer a nubmer of years ago. The program was pretty good - the kids learn actual languages, from BASIC for the youngest through Pascal and C for the oldest (in fact, we had a few doing work in Assembly). Most students brought their own PCs. After instruction, there was plenty of Doom and games as well.
The sessions are two weeks each and they have 5 locations in the U.S., mostly in the east (headed in Connecticut).
We've got a pretty stiff admission test (you had to score high on the SAT in 7th or 8th grade), but the computer science course is fabulous. Hmm...they may have changed the syllabus recently. The original version is still being taught by the Boston CTY Alumni.