>Education and technology are needed to break
>the cycle of poverty that keeps third world >nations locked in their positions
Exactly!
Having lived and taught programming (+ English) in Myanmar a neighbor of Cambodia's, I can tell you that there are some very important things that computers are necessary for even in the poorest of countries...
1. Designing buildings and other structures (CAD).
2. Printing books (Desktop Publishing).
3. Getting access to medical information.
4. Unquantifiable category: (Access to the whole gamut of mind opening information that is in western countries but not in poor developing countries.)
5. Advertising export products and tourism (foreign $'s = capital to develop)
6. Teaching problem solving skills
(Abelson and Sussman's "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs")
The number of books that is being published in western countries each year may be increasing at an exponential rate, but few of them make their way to poorer developing countries.
Some of the most influential people in the future development of Cambodia will be the Cambodians who go to foreign countries, study there, get an advanced degree, and then teach generations of young Cambodians.(Pol Pot was a school teacher educated in France).
Internet access will allow future generations to be aware of the opportunities available and avoid recruiters who often prey on people who lack information.(This also goes for people who migrate to other people to work, e.g. Phiilipines to Saudi Arabia) Since academics usually put a lot of papers on line, they can also familiarize themselves with research.
What the article doesn't say is what kind of computer system he will end up using the skills he's acquired on: most likely Microsoft Windows
with some pirated application software like Autocad.
IMHO there's a great opportunity for members of the open source revolution to go over to these countries and show people how to
add value with Linux...rather than slowly become dependent on Microsoft.
some people actually have work they need to get done with a computer....I would really like to understand what you just said:
"Anyone who dismisses RedHat out of hand and chooses, say, Debian simply because it's "l33ter" is, in my book, unemployable and not worth anyone's attention."
but I have work to get done....and so does my boss who will fire my a** if I don't get my work done.
There's a "division of labor" in computing. My boss only knows spreadsheets. I have a handle on more technical things...
but honestly....*Linux has to be easier than Windows 98, excel, etc* to win the battle.
I hope it does!
But right now, Bill Gates has a better grasp of what the average user...like my boss...needs and wants....
A database of stories would be great for those of us who work by ourselves out of choice or
necessity (I live in a remote Asian dictatorship where the internet is illegal)
Unwritten lore, knowledge that's not in books
is hard to get when you're not part of
a group of people who help each other out.
Stories are easier to read, understand, and remember than the MANual. Actually... Real Men probably become Men through all the virile manly effort required to interpret and use MAN pages, to go beyond them.
No doubt any programmer or system administrator
comes of age by trouble shooting nasty problems with the sparse info given by a MAN page,
but *how he actually goes about this troubleshooting* that's *a good story*.
You don't have to call it a story, call it a
"case study" if you want, but I'd prefer mine salted with a little science fiction or adventure.
A great book I'm reading now makes good use of case studies:
Java Design Patterns: A Tutorial by James W. Cooper.
**Many of the people who take introductory programming classes are not going to be programmers.*** The world is now full of engineers, economists, statisticians, linguists, etc. that have programming responsibilities in addition to all the other things they have to do. They need a language for quick solutions and that's what an introductory programming language should teach them how to get quick high-level decisions. Only the people who are going to be computer science majors and write C++ code should worry about shifting around bits and bytes, and three's complement...etc. The programming language taught in introductory programming language classes should allow the student to accomplish a lot, solve difficult problems, create sopphisticated gui interfaces without writing a lot of code. Python with Tkinter, the numerical libraries, the very clear OO programming style, is the best for this IMHO. Extensions in let's say C++/STL also seem easier to make with Perl. It's also less Unix-centric. Python seems to be inheriting the best from Perl while eliminating it's obfuscations. Jon Fernquest ferni@loxinfo.co.th bayinnaung@hotmail.com
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>Education and technology are needed to break
>the cycle of poverty that keeps third world >nations locked in their positions
Exactly!
Having lived and taught programming (+ English) in Myanmar a neighbor of Cambodia's, I can tell you that there are some very important things that computers are necessary for even in the poorest of countries...
1. Designing buildings and other structures (CAD).
2. Printing books (Desktop Publishing).
3. Getting access to medical information.
4. Unquantifiable category: (Access to the whole gamut of mind opening information that is in western countries but not in poor developing countries.)
5. Advertising export products and tourism (foreign $'s = capital to develop)
6. Teaching problem solving skills
(Abelson and Sussman's "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs")
The number of books that is being published in western countries each year may be increasing at an exponential rate, but few of them make their way to poorer developing countries.
Some of the most influential people in the future development of Cambodia will be the Cambodians who go to foreign countries, study there, get an advanced degree, and then teach generations of young Cambodians.(Pol Pot was a school teacher educated in France).
Internet access will allow future generations to be aware of the opportunities available and avoid recruiters who often prey on people who lack information.(This also goes for people who migrate to other people to work, e.g. Phiilipines to Saudi Arabia) Since academics usually put a lot of papers on line, they can also familiarize themselves with research.
What the article doesn't say is what kind of computer system he will end up using the skills he's acquired on: most likely Microsoft Windows
with some pirated application software like Autocad.
IMHO there's a great opportunity for members of the open source revolution to go over to these countries and show people how to
add value with Linux...rather than slowly become dependent on Microsoft.
some people actually have work they need to get done with a computer....I would really like to understand what you just said: "Anyone who dismisses RedHat out of hand and chooses, say, Debian simply because it's "l33ter" is, in my book, unemployable and not worth anyone's attention." but I have work to get done....and so does my boss who will fire my a** if I don't get my work done. There's a "division of labor" in computing. My boss only knows spreadsheets. I have a handle on more technical things... but honestly....*Linux has to be easier than Windows 98, excel, etc* to win the battle. I hope it does! But right now, Bill Gates has a better grasp of what the average user...like my boss...needs and wants....
A database of stories would be great for those of us who work by ourselves out of choice or necessity (I live in a remote Asian dictatorship where the internet is illegal) Unwritten lore, knowledge that's not in books is hard to get when you're not part of a group of people who help each other out. Stories are easier to read, understand, and remember than the MANual. Actually... Real Men probably become Men through all the virile manly effort required to interpret and use MAN pages, to go beyond them. No doubt any programmer or system administrator comes of age by trouble shooting nasty problems with the sparse info given by a MAN page, but *how he actually goes about this troubleshooting* that's *a good story*. You don't have to call it a story, call it a "case study" if you want, but I'd prefer mine salted with a little science fiction or adventure. A great book I'm reading now makes good use of case studies: Java Design Patterns: A Tutorial by James W. Cooper.
**Many of the people who take introductory programming classes are not going to be programmers.*** The world is now full of engineers, economists, statisticians, linguists, etc. that have programming responsibilities in addition to all the other things they have to do. They need a language for quick solutions and that's what an introductory programming language should teach them how to get quick high-level decisions. Only the people who are going to be computer science majors and write C++ code should worry about shifting around bits and bytes, and three's complement...etc. The programming language taught in introductory programming language classes should allow the student to accomplish a lot, solve difficult problems, create sopphisticated gui interfaces without writing a lot of code. Python with Tkinter, the numerical libraries, the very clear OO programming style, is the best for this IMHO. Extensions in let's say C++/STL also seem easier to make with Perl. It's also less Unix-centric. Python seems to be inheriting the best from Perl while eliminating it's obfuscations. Jon Fernquest ferni@loxinfo.co.th bayinnaung@hotmail.com