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On Thu, 24 May 2018, Chris Tipney wrote:
HI Gordon, On 24/05/2018 07:04, Gordon Henderson wrote:Despite the name it's not just about coding - maybe you would be interested in one of these subjects:On Wed, 23 May 2018, Chris Tipney wrote:The whole part of this ramble (apologies for taking so long to get here) is that as I'm sure you all know the Dojos are run entirely by volunteers at no cost to the kids (ages 7 to 17) - so I would be grateful for any help from the knowledgable folk who I know inhabit this list :-) Gordon you listening - they knew you were funnily enough!I didn't know about it and wasn't invited to it. Probably because I do not, and never will "code" in scratch or Python.Gordonhttp://kata.coderdojo.com/wiki/Home_Page Some of the fun things don't even invlove a computer of any sort.
Not really interested anymore.Mostly because the stuff I do for real (and get paid good money for) are miles apart from the things the 'dojo wants to be involved with.
E.g. Arduino - I do not use c++ for real-time embedded applcations. The Arduino platform is, frankly, an abomination and does not encourage good programming (or hardware!) skills whatsoever.
I do use the Arduino hardware platform, but usually for prototyping - I then go on to develop my own hardware, or at least my own shields for the Arduino where appropriate.
The bbc microbit is too closely linked to Microsoft and Python too.So my view is that things like the dojo ought to be viewed as a nice little club, but leave the real world teaching to schools and universities.
When we met up at that prospective Exeter fab lab I recall you were keen on making the hardware do useful stuff - still the case?
Yes, but here's one issue - who wants to learn hardware by using command-line tools?
I teach programming by regarding programming as a problem solving excercise. In the past 6 years of Pi world I've seen things get worse and worse, not better. People dive into code without knowing what the code does. I've seen people write python using what could be written far more easily in a simple shell script. I've written BASIC programs that have run faster and more efficiently than some of the c++ I've seen. (I earn money writing BASIC - how about that!)
I've seen people hook up 3 LEDs and a button to a Pi then write a 100-line python program without even using command-line tools (there's even a web front-end for the lazy!) to test the hardware. Then I've watched them spend hours "debugging" their code when all that was needed was to turn the LEDs round. Kids don't play with Lego anymore )-: They don't know how to break problems down to small steps and incrementally test.
I've also have over 10,000 (ten thousand) emails now regarding my wiringPi library "not working" on various platforms when the implementors of those platforms (pi4j I'm looking at you!) should know better, but lazilly statically linked an old version of wiringPi - one that was updated in December 2016 for new Pi hardware, yet those lazy pi4j people still have not updated their systems. If only they'd not statically linked wiringPi.
So when then world is full of moronic examples like that, I just want to get off. Did I mention I now run a nice little bakery? Sourdough breads, anyone?
Or maybe a Pi controlled oven: https://projects.drogon.net/raspberry-pi-controlled-oven/ Written in BASIC of-course.
Just casting around for those wanting to be involved - apologies if I have been presumptive.
I've tried to be involved but all it's done is depress me. The whole STEMnet ambassador thing was a waste of space too - at least in Devon/Cornwall - mostly because it was run by the careers service. (They also did not understand the self-employed - all they wanted to do was place people in the met-office from whatI could tell)
Chatting to my peers in other counties where it's not run by them, it seems they have much more fun. I gave up on code club because I could not get out of the scratch/python cycle.
Right. Enough ranting. I've got bread and sticky buns to deliver. Gordon -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG https://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq