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Introducing Students To the World of Open Source

Posted by Soulskill on from the what-do-you-mean-my-boss-doesn't-have-an-autograder dept.

paulproteus writes "Most computer science students never see a bug tracker, and very few learn about version control. Classes often don't teach the skills needed for participation. So I organized a weekend workshop at the University of Pennsylvania. Total newbies enthusiastically spent the day on IRC, learned git, built a project from source, and read bugs in real projects. I learned that there's no shortage of students that want to get involved."

13 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. In my experiance... by daid303 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Most computer science students don't know how to write code. So it doesn't matter at all.

    1. Re:In my experiance... by cheekyjohnson · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I came to the same conclusion. What's worse is that the class I was in was a Visual Basic class. Most of them didn't care about programming, the ones who did performed very poorly at it (and in Visual Basic no less), and the teacher didn't even know what a function was (sure, he is a math teacher, but he had been teaching that class for three years). Disturbing.

      --
      Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
    2. Re:In my experiance... by spiffmastercow · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's okay, most professional programmers don't know how to write code, so they'll fit right in.

    3. Re:In my experiance... by EvanED · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'd argue that trackers and version control should not be taught in a CS curriculum.

      Trackers... OK, I don't see those as essential. Version control? Disagree vehemently. There might be a couple programs in the country where you can specialize in theory enough to avoid all heavy programming, but most programs require you to do at least some practical courses (OS, compilers, etc.), and even in programs where you could avoid such classes probably most students don't. And IMO, if you're teaching a programming-heavy class and you don't at least strongly recommend using version control and give a quick overview of what that means and why you want it, you're doing your students a big disservice.

      I'm not saying "spend a week going over CVS, SVN, Git, and Mecrcural" or anything like that, but a 15-minute quick intro to one of them of your choice is definitely not out of place in many CS classes.

    4. Re:In my experiance... by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 4, Informative

      In high school, they don't have Computer science teachers (usually). They have a different teacher, who gets handed a text book on how to teach programming. They don't bother reading it, they probably teach language arts or Math - so they just kind of dole it out to the kids and try to help where they can.

      At least, thats been my experience. I didn't reach anyone with programming experience till Post secondary.

  2. This has always been one of my gripes by SirGeek · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've been a professional software developer for over 20 years and this is one area that I really think would benefit the REAL world so much.

    I would also love to see a 2 semester class where 1 semester is where they learn how to write software specifications for fictitious business software package.

    Then the 2nd semester is where it has to be implemented by a different group of students.

    --
    UPS Sucks
  3. Re:Wow... by drcheap · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wait until you get into college for your CS degree and see what level your classmates are at. It's sad, really.

    It was the same way for me over 10 years ago.

  4. Re:Version control by cforciea · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It isn't really that surprising to me. Computer science and software engineering are not identical disciplines. Computer Science programs on a core level are about data structures, algorithms, and the theory behind why we program things the way we do. The actual specifics of a development cycle, while obviously important if you want to put any of that to practical use outside of research positions, are disjoint from those concepts.

    You can make an argument that more people should be learning Software Engineering instead of Computer Science, but that's really a different discussion.

  5. Not Open Source Specific by VGPowerlord · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The first thing that struck me, both from the summary and the article itself, is that none of these are really open-source specific.

    To reiterate, the four they listed in the article are:

    • Communication technologies, like IRC and mailing lists
    • How to get, build, and modify open source code
    • Project organization, including version control, bug trackers, and individual roles within a project
    • Linux and command line skills

    OK, well, you could argue command-line Linux skills are open-source, but that's not guaranteed.

    If anything, these are skills that all businesses who have programmers would want them to understand.

    Heck, even my current project, an internal project that I swear I could submit things to The Daily WTF every weekday for the next year on, has version control and bug tracking software!

    --
    GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
  6. Re:Version control by Microlith · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That statement is proof that you don't know how to admin a repository...

    Using and administration are two very different things

    I'm confused as to how you got anything regarding "administration" out of my point that there was no need to lock a repository. Can you explain your point than just saying "you don't know anything" in the typically condescending attitude of a know-it-all?

  7. Re:Version control by HogGeek · · Score: 3, Informative

    Honestly, I mis-read your statement to mean that there was a way to bypass the lock.

    I agree with your statement, but have no way of correcting the original post...

    Apology offered

  8. If you want to help run a similar event... by paulproteus · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hey all! I'm going to be working on organizing more, similar events going forward.

    If you want to stay on top of that, or try to organize an event near you, join the mailing list for OpenHatch events: http://lists.openhatch.org/mailman/listinfo/events

    This is part of the OpenHatch project, an ongoing effort to help new contributors get involved in open source. If you want to stay in touch with OpenHatch, join us on #openhatch on irc.freenode.net or follow the links on our "About" page, http://openhatch.org/about/.

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    |/usr/games/fortune
  9. Re:Not all educators are stuck in 1976 by Jaime2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I teach for a BS degree in Web Design & Development. If you look at our courses, you'll see that we have a number that are very Open Source friendly. Sure, we partner with Adobe and Apple and have a huge focus on the Adobe CS apps (Flash, Photoshop/Illustrator, Flex, ColdFusion), but we also have entire courses on PHP, jQuery, mySQL, and Red5. And those are just the apps for which we spend an entire course. We also work in Git, CouchDB, Audacity, Eclipse, and many more common OSS apps and platforms. It's an open secret that we're working to launch a BS degree in Mobile Development that will have a very large Android curriculum.

    Higher education doesn't have to be all boring theory and no practical application. Anyone who tells you that the university system can't keep up with rapidly-changing technology is sorely misinformed.

    Twenty years from now, 90% of the technologies you mentioned will be just memories. A traditional BS from a traditional university is useful for pretty much an entire lifetime. Your BS program sounds a lot like a trade school program repackaged so that students can get financial aid. Don't get me wrong, I think these skills are useful -- I spent 10 years of my professional life teaching IT certification courses. However, I never considered what I did to be an alternative to a degree.

    I would much rather see a university have trouble keeping up with technology than see one lose all sense of perspective chasing shiny things.