[TOS] POSSE 2011 admissions - new applications, 9/15 seats remain

[tosmaillist.neophyte_rep at ordinaryamerican.net]

On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 9:31 PM, Mel Chua - mel at redhat.com wrote:
> Congratulations to the new members of our POSSE 2011 cohort!
>
> *
> http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/POSSE_2011_applicants#Mihaela_Sabin
>
> We now have 6 out of 15 seats filled, and 2 new applications. Here they
> are, with my comments:
>
> http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/POSSE_2011_applicants#Elinor_Madigan
>
> I like this application a lot - it sounds like they've already got
> something excellent going here with the introduction of Python, and
> getting some contact with the expert Python dev community (possibly
> flying over a dev or sending some students over to PyCon with course
> funding) would really help them flourish. I know we can connect them
> with Fedora's Python development community; I don't know Ubuntu's Python
> community personally but I'm sure there are people there who'd be very
> receptive to helping out and making sure both platforms are supported if
> students need both. We should be able to find enough novice Python
> bounties to make fun little projects - I wonder how the students would
> fare in navigating larger codebases/projects to make small patches? That
> would increase the pool we can draw from. This gets at +1 from me - any
> other thoughts?

About programming in general:  I hope everyone that teaches any
programming language has been exposed to "The Psychology of Computer
Programming" by Gerald M. Weinberg
(http://www.geraldmweinberg.com/Site/Programming_Psychology.html).  If
I hadn't misplaced my copy of the 1971 edition, I'd confirm he was the
person who asserted the first programming language we learn strongly
determines how we program for the rest of our lives.  That is
especially important, because some languages are better for some
problems than others and if we try to use one language's techniques in
another language's syntax, we often end with a sloppy implementation
of a solution which is buggy and difficult to maintain.

About any particular programming language:  I am sure the Publishing
companies have a vested interest in exposing any student to their line
of textbooks.  Perhaps one or more of them would be inclined to
sponsor an author's visit to a class studying the language the author
studied well enough to write a book?

About Python specifically: It might be informative to review what
happened to the "Fourth Grade Math" Sugar Labs project
(http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/fourthgrademath/), especially as
to what may be accomplished within one semester.  Entry into any
project (open or proprietary) within a semester is a challenge.  But
that alone is a good educational experience.  ("The Mythical
Man-Month" is probably relevant here
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-201-00650-2).)

"I would like to investigate how Python and PHP work together."  I
understand there have been religious flame wars about which
interpreted language is the best.  (There are, at least, three P's you
know, (In alphabetical order.) Perl, PHP, and Python.)  Since the
beginning premise of any language developer tends to be "What we need
is one, good language.", this would be an interesting investigation
that could inform a beginner's understanding of what challenges there
are to designing and building a language, but don't expect too many
folks helping you determine how any two can be used together.  The
Blender idea would seem more what a professional programmer would be
asked to do, maintain or extend an existing product.

> http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/POSSE_2011_applicants#Allen_White
>
> I'd also love to be able to reach out to this student population - also,
> the school uses a *ton* of FOSS - the tool-skills are there, it might
> just be the specifics of working with an open source upstream that are
> needed - and it would be great to get them started contributing back to
> their upstreams - finding a doable project (or projects, for multiple
> small teams) that will fit with their timeframe might be the main
> challenge here, and again, it sounds like access to a community of
> developers would be a huge benefit. I'm scratching my head over projects
> that could support local cultural preservation while still plugging them
> into a broad developer community, and wrap nicely after the year is over
> without much need for ongoing maintenance. Perhaps the students could do
> a deployment of a CMS system for an exhibit and write custom
> modules/patches for that upstream - we'll have to look around. Also a +1
> from me, but I'd love to hear thoughts since Moodle, etc. and web
> systems aren't my area of expertise.
>

"the only faculty member dedicated to Computing."  That, plus the
return from corporate computing to academia, makes this a definite +1
for me.

I sure hope Allen continues to enjoy a "very wide latitude in the
construction of my courses and in the development of our curriculum"
and the cooperation of his IT staff (even if it is only "obsolete"
hand me downs).

> Comments, questions, etc. on either application would be most appreciated!
>
> If you're interested in POSSE but haven't applied yet, head to
> http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/POSSE#Apply - there are only 9
> seats left, so send those apps in now! Please holler if you've got any
> questions.
>
> Cheers,
>
> --Mel
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