start simple — stroking a nail with a magnet to magnetize it; coiling a wires; then show them a relay.. it works by the principle they themselves have done by coiling wire. then build the four basic logic gates: AND, OR, NAND, NOR.. that will already take a long time. have them write-up the truth tables by toggling switches and getting the results.
then play chess with them — this will better prepare them than anything to thing clearly and logically independent of language semantics which will soon be obsolete.
they need all the users they can get — they cant afford to shut out any percent of their upgrader base, or windows 10 slow uptake rates will get users with lesser machines to further jump ship to the linux and mac folds.
when the ipod came out, apple paid the artists to provide about 300 free songs for users for free - it was a gift - it was like them paying to give us a free mix tape. i found some good tunes on there, and deleted the rest. thx apple.
again, instead of paying for this music, apple is paying (or in cahoots depending on yr pov) for a gift of music that they believe to be good. if you like u2 - its a gift. if you dont, it is easy to delete - you wont even see it unless you go digging for it.
OIDS — for the Atari ST, and the Mac OSX (powerPC) — combines the best elements of Defender, Lunar Lander, Asteroids, Gravitar and Thrust, with its inertia based movement, and level editor. one of the best early games.:-D
a device with a slideout keyboard is inherently more prone to breaking than a one piece phone.
i've never had a problem using a touch screen for typing short messages, and if you really do want to write an essay, a lil phone keyboard is still inferior to a real full-size keyboard (which can be paired to any bluetooth equipped phone anyway) — you shouldnt be using your phone to be typing manuscripts anyway — the lil tiny keys — real or not — or still inadequate.
touch screen keyboards work really well in my experience; and they dont suffer the inherent mechanical breakability of a slide-out phone.
what would really help prepare children better than writing code is playing chess — it will help them learn how to think logically and consistently — if they learn it in chess first — learning all the various changing semantics of languages that may come and go will be trivial — if they got a good grounding in thinking properly through chess. a couple years of chess for grades 5-10 should be mandatory in every school curriculum.
chess is even more important than learning to how to code — because to get anywhere with code, you have to immerse yourself in a language, an API, an IDE, and a way of thinking that is large, legacy, and arcane. by contrast, chess gets it down to the critical skills in a pretty efficient way.
teach chess, then code later will be a piece of cake — because chess teaches the essential skills of grasping clear thoughts/moves in a facile way with the mind — and this mind muscle can be brought to higher level of logical consistency and clarity of thought with chess. something that is simple, yet lends itself to the greatest sophistication.
another reason to teach chess is science standards — lack of critical thinking in regards to science is a reflection of a nation that has lost its ability to think clearly upon basic subjects. chess is the remedy for a lack of clear and lucid thinking on many subjects.
one must work the mind, or it becomes weak, and unable to judge things very well — and then tends to be easily manipulated by political and emotional cues.
I have always considered that the substitution of the Internal Combustion Engine for the horse marked a very gloomy passage in the progress of mankind. (Winston Churchill)
the GMO mono-culture which wipes out all with roundup, and allows to live only sterile copyright gmo seeds at the expensive of the natural diversity of nature — in mexico, the many many varieties of corn are replaced in america with a mono-culture of sterile gmo seeds — it is insidious destruction of our own planet's natural and abundant diversity.
i've met some really good women programmers over several decades in the tech world —but precious few.:-(
to make things fit our statistical ideal — we strive to glamourize writing code, the good pay, how easy it is to start, and the cool places you can work if you do. yet these things, have little to do with actually being interesting in numbers and algorithms.
if you have a real interest, the difficulty doesnt stop you, no more than salmon swimming upstream. the insatiable desire to grok code is its own reason. if we cant draw more people into computer science by showing how fascinating powers of 2 arithmetic, binary logic, and how neat pointer references are — then i'm afraid there's little hope — sometimes it seems they just dont like it. they have other less abstract, more practical concerns. so often, in perplexity, i have wondered — why are there so precious few women who are intrinsically interested in writing code? guys dig chicks with whom they can talk C++ —— but where are they!?!?
so i dont know if they are being shut out, or if they are simply averse. for the ones that arent — please, come code. the guys more than want more female programmers around. because of this, i've spent a lot of time trying to help women grok technology more deeply.
one thing i've noticed though, while machinery speaks in hexadecimal; the women are using the machinery more. instead of 'how it works', their quesion is 'how to use'? instead of making machines, they would rather use them. it reminds me of an old quote from Heinrich Heine's mom — 'the man thinks, and the women steers'.
in the end — it is for women to decide. all we can do is encourage, and hold the door open.:-D please come.
Slashdot Mirror
start simple — stroking a nail with a magnet to magnetize it; coiling a wires; then show them a relay.. it works by the principle they themselves have done by coiling wire. then build the four basic logic gates: AND, OR, NAND, NOR.. that will already take a long time. have them write-up the truth tables by toggling switches and getting the results.
then play chess with them — this will better prepare them than anything to thing clearly and logically independent of language semantics which will soon be obsolete.
2cents
j
and counterpoint — is it a real chess engine if it doesnt implement MiniMax??
it is an impressive feat to contain a chess programme in such a small size (although it doesnt implement MiniMax).
although smaller — it would be interesting to see the result of a game of ZX81 1K Chess vs BootChess — which engine would win??
2cents
j
should really begin in 1879 - the year edison first lit his lightbulb.
2cents
see — if doctors had just kept to their paper records, they couldnt be hacked..
lol
"initially funded by the U.S. Army Research Office"
lets them pull the trigger by remote.. :-^
the theoretical amount it saves is outweighed by the recurring adjustment cost it incurs.
they should string the guy by his toenails who invented this ridiculous aberation.
they need all the users they can get — they cant afford to shut out any percent of their upgrader base, or windows 10 slow uptake rates will get users with lesser machines to further jump ship to the linux and mac folds.
2cents from toronto
make something as thin as possible, and then users stick it in their back pocket, sit on it, and wonder why it bends.. :-p
when the ipod came out, apple paid the artists to provide about 300 free songs for users for free - it was a gift - it was like them paying to give us a free mix tape. i found some good tunes on there, and deleted the rest. thx apple.
again, instead of paying for this music, apple is paying (or in cahoots depending on yr pov) for a gift of music that they believe to be good. if you like u2 - its a gift. if you dont, it is easy to delete - you wont even see it unless you go digging for it.
thanks apple.
2cents from toronto
jp
Its all the compact flourescent light bulbs.. have you ever read the disposal instructions for one of those!?!?
OIDS — for the Atari ST, and the Mac OSX (powerPC) — combines the best elements of Defender, Lunar Lander, Asteroids, Gravitar and Thrust, with its inertia based movement, and level editor. one of the best early games. :-D
Mac OSX version by David Hewit: http://www.xavagus.com/
Atari ST ROM by David Hewit: http://www.atarimania.com/game...
mod parent up.
kids dont deserve to be in jail all year
a device with a slideout keyboard is inherently more prone to breaking than a one piece phone.
i've never had a problem using a touch screen for typing short messages, and if you really do want to write an essay, a lil phone keyboard is still inferior to a real full-size keyboard (which can be paired to any bluetooth equipped phone anyway) — you shouldnt be using your phone to be typing manuscripts anyway — the lil tiny keys — real or not — or still inadequate.
touch screen keyboards work really well in my experience; and they dont suffer the inherent mechanical breakability of a slide-out phone.
2cents from toronto
jp
its not supposed to work good — that's why its the bottom of the line.
if you want it to work good, you gotta buy the good model..
they want — we find you.
find my iphone — no good.
if every lightbulb is going to have an IP address — they better be using IPv6.. ;-]
2cents
j
what would really help prepare children better than writing code is playing chess — it will help them learn how to think logically and consistently — if they learn it in chess first — learning all the various changing semantics of languages that may come and go will be trivial — if they got a good grounding in thinking properly through chess. a couple years of chess for grades 5-10 should be mandatory in every school curriculum.
chess is even more important than learning to how to code — because to get anywhere with code, you have to immerse yourself in a language, an API, an IDE, and a way of thinking that is large, legacy, and arcane. by contrast, chess gets it down to the critical skills in a pretty efficient way.
teach chess, then code later will be a piece of cake — because chess teaches the essential skills of grasping clear thoughts/moves in a facile way with the mind — and this mind muscle can be brought to higher level of logical consistency and clarity of thought with chess. something that is simple, yet lends itself to the greatest sophistication.
another reason to teach chess is science standards — lack of critical thinking in regards to science is a reflection of a nation that has lost its ability to think clearly upon basic subjects. chess is the remedy for a lack of clear and lucid thinking on many subjects.
one must work the mind, or it becomes weak, and unable to judge things very well — and then tends to be easily manipulated by political and emotional cues.
2cents
but how would you load the java 6 v22 update for the toaster interface!?!? (groan)
galactica computers werent secure because they were old — what they didnt want is to have the machines NETWORKED.
I have always considered that the substitution of the Internal Combustion Engine for the horse marked a very gloomy passage in the progress of mankind.
(Winston Churchill)
zero doesnt equal one — no matter how much fancy math you got to prove it. :-p
when they start selling their (fuel consuming) cars, and start riding bikes —then i'll take them seriously.
the GMO mono-culture which wipes out all with roundup, and allows to live only sterile copyright gmo seeds at the expensive of the natural diversity of nature — in mexico, the many many varieties of corn are replaced in america with a mono-culture of sterile gmo seeds — it is insidious destruction of our own planet's natural and abundant diversity.
i've met some really good women programmers over several decades in the tech world —but precious few. :-(
to make things fit our statistical ideal — we strive to glamourize writing code, the good pay, how easy it is to start, and the cool places you can work if you do. yet these things, have little to do with actually being interesting in numbers and algorithms.
if you have a real interest, the difficulty doesnt stop you, no more than salmon swimming upstream. the insatiable desire to grok code is its own reason. if we cant draw more people into computer science by showing how fascinating powers of 2 arithmetic, binary logic, and how neat pointer references are — then i'm afraid there's little hope — sometimes it seems they just dont like it. they have other less abstract, more practical concerns. so often, in perplexity, i have wondered — why are there so precious few women who are intrinsically interested in writing code? guys dig chicks with whom they can talk C++ —— but where are they!?!?
so i dont know if they are being shut out, or if they are simply averse. for the ones that arent — please, come code. the guys more than want more female programmers around. because of this, i've spent a lot of time trying to help women grok technology more deeply.
one thing i've noticed though, while machinery speaks in hexadecimal; the women are using the machinery more. instead of 'how it works', their quesion is 'how to use'? instead of making machines, they would rather use them. it reminds me of an old quote from Heinrich Heine's mom — 'the man thinks, and the women steers'.
in the end — it is for women to decide. :-D
all we can do is encourage, and hold the door open.
please come.