It looks like it sits on top of the cable and crawls along. But, isn't the top of the cable normally covered with dirt? Does it require an outside tube or little mines or what? Does it just dig its way along? I don't see how it can be used on existing cables. Could someone explain?:)
They come right out and say it's a deterrent, and that the money (at least at first) will go to a particular fund. They're not lying and calling it a cost. (At least, not this fee.) Thanks. I couldn't read the PDF until someone posted it.
Keeping up with the number of file-sharing complaints coming in under the
DMCA has required almost three full-time Stanford employees. It is an irresponsible
waste of Stanford's resources--your tuition dollars--to spend so much staff time
responding to copyright violations. Ah, the problem with not reading the PDF. It is clear that the harrassment by the RIAA is the problem here and not the students however.
IT time? Oh, I forgot. Like most college fees, they can just invent a number and charge whatever they want. It is Stanford (the Silver Spoon Ritz) after all!
Remember, every time a line of code is inserted, deleted, moved, or modified , there exists the possibility that a bug will be introduced. It is sometimes in the best (short-term) interests of an organization (especially one that is developing closed-source software) to pick their battles when it comes to "fixing" things -- especially when the problem is never/rarely noticed by stakeholders. Not always, of course. But sometimes. Thanks for your enjoyable reply! Yes, you're quite right. Nearly any change in software whether fixing a bug (even a seemingly trivial one,) adding a new feature or changing existing functionality can cause things to break. We can protect against it through regression testing, modular design to encapsulate the effects of changes and taking the time to carefully understand the code and what the changes will do. But, still, there be dragons! I once worked for someone who, everytime we got close to a release, would go home for the weekend, get completely stoned and then 'fix' and 'refactor' dozens of parts of the program. Needless to say, this would inevitably cause weeks if not months of cleanup work each time, particularly as he was a very careless programmer. Yet, because he was supposedly 'fixing bugs' he always insisted it was correct action, regardless of how he went about it. Good times!
Sure, that would be a problem. I wasn't suggesting that students should be spoon-fed something to type in more than once or twice before the real lessons begin. Anybody who thinks that IS the lesson should be kept away from children. Lol. I see what you mean. I do remember the books and magazines in the 80's that were filled with BASIC programs and typing those in and it was a lot of fun. A type of open source I suppose.:)
Swashbuckler was the game I was thinking of. Didn't you end up fighting pirate skeletons (or is that skeleton pirates?) in the later levels? I think so! It all kind of blends into my subconscious memory. hehe:)
There are a ton of good GUI apps written in Python. They use such GUI toolkits as WxWidgets and Gtk. Python is already a dependency, so including a second dependency is basically trivial. Well, except that Python already comes installed on Mac and GNU/Linux. Taking a look at the large list of modules that are fairly standard with Python, do you see any reason why a good GUI library doesn't belong? If I want to write a cross platform GUI application on Python there simply is no very good library commonly available on all platforms. Furthermore, since it is so easy to interface C with Python, many of the ports aren't very Pythonic. What popular cross platform application(s) where you thinking of when you said a 'ton'? The py2exe stuff is very cool though!:)
Wow, same here! I started programming when I was five on a TRS-80 and Apple ]['s. My mother was a teacher, so she was able to bring a computer home during the summer months. At about the same time my father bought a TRS-80 from Radio Shack and I worked on that whenever I was at his house.
The school district I attended (Illinois district 66) had received computer donations from Apple; I was in the gifted education program at my school and we got to use the Apple lab every Monday at the junior high school. The district also had some programming books that one of the high school teachers had written so I was learning LOGO and BASIC programming from them while in the first grade. At some point my mother bought an Apple GS and I was able to work on it at home every evening.
The local public library had also received donations from Apple, and they had setup a computer lab. I can remember going there almost daily for quite a while. The best thing about their lab was that the older kids would go there to play their pirated games so I could usually beg for copies of classics like Karateka, Autobahn, Hard Hat Mac, Castle Wolfenstein, Ultima, and some swordfighting game with pirates. Ah, those were the days!
I also lucked out and got turned onto UNIX (SunOS) during high school. I've been doing software development, database development/administration and system programming and administration ever since.
That was fun to read! It really brought back the memories -- especially the games. I've played all of those games and they were some of my favorites! I think the pirate game (if it's the one I'm thinking of -- I remember it required memorizing various keys on the keyboard) was called Swashbuckler. Those were the days, friend.:)
Why does it have to be standard? Why not just write something that meets your needs on top of PyGame? Those are two good questions. If I may start by answering the second question, PyGame has a pretty long list of dependencies and trying to get 20 third and fourth graders running fairly old iBooks to have everything installed so that we could even begin to work with PyGame wasn't a very friendly experience for beginning programmers. PyGame is a moderately large library and already includes sufficient drawing commands, so there wouldn't be much to add. Perhaps what you were getting at is adding a simpler shim over PyGame for them to work on? As to the first question, I believe Python has suffered sorely from not having a decent graphics/widget library. If it had a standard library like Windows Forms, Swing, AppKit, etc then it would be very useful for writing GUI programs, but right now there is only Tk or various roughly supported bindings. I suppose this is much broader concern than whether there is a Canvas for beginner programmers to draw_arc in.:)
The purpose of copying a program designed by someone else (taking their listing in a book or whatever and typing it in) serves three purposes:
1) gets you familiar with the process of inputting code, so that when you write your own code, you'll already be familiar with how to type it into the computer and execute it
2) demonstrates that by just typing in a program, it's possible to make the computer do something really cool, even though you haven't yet learned how to design something that complex yet
3) gives you a working example of a program with source code, so you can try to understand what various parts of the code do, and you can try changing something and see how the change affects the program's output
This is fine, but when students are being scolded for changing and 'playing' with the program, then something isn't right. Unlike when artists copy the masters, the base skill necessary to type something in is very low; the real benefit really is only in the third item you listed.
"Rote", like spelling... unless you're taking your "journey" metaphor in an unexpected direction. =) Thanks.:)
I'd characterize a large part of my elementary school math education as "a journey of aided discovery", especially the parts that got the class most interested in math. I think you were mighty fortunate in that regard. So many folks hate math or have math anxiety because of the style of instruction they received. Instead of mathematics being a way to understanding the mysteries of the universe and practice for thinking logically, it is often taught as a mechanical drill without any appreciation for creativity and flexibility. Or so I've heard.:)
I said that researchers should create a derivative of Python for children, since Python in its native form is a bit complicated for young children who don't know the basics.
Though I am glad to hear that children were able to be productive with Python despite its shortcomings in the graphics/audio component.
Yes, it took a while for them to get some of the concepts like functions and for range/xrange required more explaination than was really necessary. They did get a good grasp of what was going on by the second class hour and it was quite fun! Eventually, we made Java applets to demonstrate some graphics capability. One thing really nice about those classic home computers is that they all had good basic multimedia support. Some could even 'speak' the audio sections of the tape cassettes.;)
As an aside, I too am an Anarchist.:) A Excellent!:) Cheers!
Heheheh.. this is true. Although, kids really love it even when its primitive as long as its created by them. It's like when kids make a storybook. Yes, it's far less polished than what they can buy and have seen before, but they fact that they made it themselves really makes them proud. And, it's amazing how resourceful kids' creativity is.
I think these researchers should use Python and form a child friendly language derivative. It has clean syntax, and makes it easy to express a lot of hard concepts. Plus it has a live interpreter, which is like Logo. This way, they can learn programming in a easy environment and when they build confidence to do something more complex, they will have an excellent language to start from. I've used Python to teach elementary kids and, while it was mostly great, it really lacked a good graphical/audio system. We tried turtle and Pygame, but neither of them were even as easy and fun as the old setpixel, drawrect procedural style of BASIC, pascal, etc. I wish Python had a nice simple drawing module that can with the standard build (and Tk doesn't count imo.) Did I miss it?:)
Yes, I too thought BASIC (early 80s, Apple IIe, line numbers, GOTO statements) was lots of fun as a kid. But I keep reading here that BASIC was evil and made bad programmers (I didn't end up as a developer myself), so I've always been curious about why it generates such ire, because it is a great way to get kids into computer stuff and logical thinking early. I think there are three main reasons. One is arrogance as BASIC was intended as a teaching language so if a person has learned a 'professional' language they can disrespect BASIC and its practitioners for an ego-boost. Ah, for the days of Rainbow magazine and hobbyist pride. Hmm... Second, VisualBasic was quite a departure from Dartmouth style BASIC and created a very large number of 'programmers' who barely saw or understood the code they were creating. People can make advanced, excellent programs with VisualBasic (especially VB.NET,) but the stigma of being the having so many poorly designed forms counting as programming remains. Finally, BASIC is less powerful and flexible than most professional languages. After all, there are only so many numbers you can insert between lines 110 and 120!:)
Being able to create nearly anything you want on a computer, thinking through puzzles, showing your creations to your friends, the peership of programmers, learning an endless stream of new things -- programming is tons of fun! I started programming when I was 5 years old thanks to an Apple IIe home computer and have never stopped since. When I first saw the BASIC and LOGO programming at elementary school, my impression was that they weren't do it in the 'fun' way at all: we were supposed to just copy down what they did and no there was no real opportunity for exploration. Having taught programming a few times since, it all kind of weaves together: learning programming is more of a journey of aided discovery than memorizing route information. I think there is a contrast between that and most teaching. It sounds like Scratch is more about the exploration, which is great. And, you know there are gazillions of CS students who would love programming to be more fun as well!
I am not suggesting that it is better to leave bugs unfixed.
What I am saying is that fixing bugs has a possibility of making benign bugs go live. Thus, fixed software needs to be well tested to ensure that nothing else was broken in the exercise.
This means that the cost of fixing bugs can be quite high and often companies need to prioritise or batch up bug testing to make sure that bug fix releases are good.
...like wardens love prisoners. The fact that they are trying to bully the end consumers rather than the development company, along with dozens of past examples, demonstrates that Microsoft puts financial leverage far above benefit to customers. Looking at this dickweed expecting payment tells me so much about Microsoft. Seen him before?:)
Microsoft's tactic is pure FUD. Which most tech folk had likely figured out already. In some ways, perhaps the SCO fiasco is good in that PHB may be less likely to buy patent threats against free software now. We can hope!;)
Slashdot Mirror
It looks like it sits on top of the cable and crawls along. But, isn't the top of the cable normally covered with dirt? Does it require an outside tube or little mines or what? Does it just dig its way along? I don't see how it can be used on existing cables. Could someone explain? :)
IT time? Oh, I forgot. Like most college fees, they can just invent a number and charge whatever they want. It is Stanford (the Silver Spoon Ritz) after all!
Wow, same here! I started programming when I was five on a TRS-80 and Apple ]['s. My mother was a teacher, so she was able to bring a computer home during the summer months. At about the same time my father bought a TRS-80 from Radio Shack and I worked on that whenever I was at his house.
The school district I attended (Illinois district 66) had received computer donations from Apple; I was in the gifted education program at my school and we got to use the Apple lab every Monday at the junior high school. The district also had some programming books that one of the high school teachers had written so I was learning LOGO and BASIC programming from them while in the first grade. At some point my mother bought an Apple GS and I was able to work on it at home every evening.
The local public library had also received donations from Apple, and they had setup a computer lab. I can remember going there almost daily for quite a while. The best thing about their lab was that the older kids would go there to play their pirated games so I could usually beg for copies of classics like Karateka, Autobahn, Hard Hat Mac, Castle Wolfenstein, Ultima, and some swordfighting game with pirates. Ah, those were the days!
I also lucked out and got turned onto UNIX (SunOS) during high school. I've been doing software development, database development/administration and system programming and administration ever since.
That was fun to read! It really brought back the memories -- especially the games. I've played all of those games and they were some of my favorites! I think the pirate game (if it's the one I'm thinking of -- I remember it required memorizing various keys on the keyboard) was called Swashbuckler. Those were the days, friend.It really brings back the memories. That's a great applet! Thanks for the link. :)
Yes, it took a while for them to get some of the concepts like functions and for range/xrange required more explaination than was really necessary. They did get a good grasp of what was going on by the second class hour and it was quite fun! Eventually, we made Java applets to demonstrate some graphics capability. One thing really nice about those classic home computers is that they all had good basic multimedia support. Some could even 'speak' the audio sections of the tape cassettes. ;)
As an aside, I too am an Anarchist.Heheheh.. this is true. Although, kids really love it even when its primitive as long as its created by them. It's like when kids make a storybook. Yes, it's far less polished than what they can buy and have seen before, but they fact that they made it themselves really makes them proud. And, it's amazing how resourceful kids' creativity is.
Being able to create nearly anything you want on a computer, thinking through puzzles, showing your creations to your friends, the peership of programmers, learning an endless stream of new things -- programming is tons of fun! I started programming when I was 5 years old thanks to an Apple IIe home computer and have never stopped since. When I first saw the BASIC and LOGO programming at elementary school, my impression was that they weren't do it in the 'fun' way at all: we were supposed to just copy down what they did and no there was no real opportunity for exploration. Having taught programming a few times since, it all kind of weaves together: learning programming is more of a journey of aided discovery than memorizing route information. I think there is a contrast between that and most teaching. It sounds like Scratch is more about the exploration, which is great. And, you know there are gazillions of CS students who would love programming to be more fun as well!
Which I'm sure is feeling the heat from Xen.
...like wardens love prisoners. The fact that they are trying to bully the end consumers rather than the development company, along with dozens of past examples, demonstrates that Microsoft puts financial leverage far above benefit to customers. Looking at this dickweed expecting payment tells me so much about Microsoft. Seen him before? :)
Microsoft's tactic is pure FUD. Which most tech folk had likely figured out already. In some ways, perhaps the SCO fiasco is good in that PHB may be less likely to buy patent threats against free software now. We can hope! ;)