Keep the Fun in Computing

“I think that it’s extraordinarily important that we in computer science keep fun in computing… What’s in your hands, I think and hope, is intelligence: the ability to see the machine as more than when you were first led up to it, that you can make it more.”
  ~ Alan J. Perlis, from the Dedication page in SICP

Enrolling in the Chicago SICP study group, I expected to dive into Lisp. I expected to be challenged. What I didn’t expect: The fun, somewhat irreverent attitude of the SICP authors. And why not? Software development is one of our newest professions. Other professionals are made more effective through our work. Everybody benefits from the increase in productivity.

SICP Study Group

Veteran developer Dave Astels is leading a Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) study group for the next ten months. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology uses SICP as the text for one of its early computer science courses. Session one of Dave’s group starts today at 6pm. For any developer who wants to ramp up in skill, the SICP study group is an excellent opportunity to do so.

MIT makes the entire text of SICP available online for free. Or you can buy a paper version of the book at Amazon.

Thank you Brad’s Deals and Ken Walters for hosting the SICP group.

WindyCityRails and You

If you have ever attended WindyCityRails: Thank you for helping to make the event more exciting every year. Organizers strive to give developers actionable technical information in a conference format. So far, it’s working!

Context Changes Everything

There are some cases where time zone information is absolutely critical. For example: When scheduling a video conference that crosses national boundaries.

A few hours ago, Google sent me a reminder about today’s LinuxBarbados meeting. The group meets via video conferencing software over the web. Google’s reminder was confusing because it showed the time without the time zone (screenshot below). LinuxBarbados is based in the Caribbean, and members participate from multiple time zones around the world.

Chicago Node.js

The Chicago Node.js user group invited me to present Node.js Under Water, an overview of the OpenROV underwater robot, this evening. Slides appear below.

Every version of this talk is tailored to the audience. This version focuses on OpenROV hardware components since this group certainly knows Node.js. Information has been added on hardware gotchas and tether management.

Thank you Chicago Node.js organizers and members for having me.