Cory Doctorow on copyright laws in the digital age and how Digital Rights Management (DRM) is doing more harm than good for artists.
Professor Randy Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and with only several months to live gave his last lecture Achieving Your Childhood Dreams in Carnegie Mellon and later wrote a book based on it.
A truly inspirational lecture where Professor Pausch chronicles his life and achievements. It was through this video that I learnt that he was instrumental in the development of Alice.
In his lecture he talks about brick walls and I have always drawn inspiration from this quote. He says,
The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people!
There are many more quotes from the lecture that are worth revisiting.
When it comes to exploring ways to learning computer programming concepts, we are spoilt for choice.
Scratch is developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Originally designed for younger learners it makes learning programming concepts easier by removing any need for its users to type codes. Instead learners use blocks to structure their program. Though designed for young learners, it has been used in polytechnics and universities across the world. Students are able to make animation and simple games with Scratch.
Alice is developed by an innovative team from Carnegie Mellon. One of its key developers is the late Professor Randy Pausch. Similar to Scratch, it too uses a block programming approach to teach programming concepts. Students are able to make animations with Alice and if you think the graphics aren’t too fantastic then try Alice 3.0 beta which uses the Sims 2 characters!
Greenfoot is developed by the University of Kent. What makes Greenfoot great is that, unlike Scratch and Alice which use block programming, students still have to program in an actual programming language, in this case, Java. While Scratch and Alice may be ideal for younger learners, it is important to move to actual coding soon after and Greenfoot provides the next level in a student’s learning.
A new breed of online courses have also sprouted out on the Internet. Code School and Code Academy offer innovative ways to learning different programming and scripting languages. W3Schools has been around for a very long time and is has a comprehensive list of scripting languages for the beginner
Code School has several online courses available on their website. One such course that caught my attention was Functional HTML5 and CSS3 which costs USD 45. They do offer a free online course Rails for Zombies.
Codecademy takes a different approach by incorporating game elements into their online course. Learners are awarded badges when they complete certain tasks and progress in the lessons.
W3Schools has been around for a very long time and has a comprehensive list of scripting languages for the aspiring web developer. It was what I used when I first learnt HTML and has been my preferred introductory course when learning CSS, SQL and many others. This is an ideal site for the absolute beginner.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary app on Android is nothing short of brilliant.
Merriam-Webster have an app for the iOS devices and have recently launched their app on the Android market. Check out their features:
I usually use dictionary.com or simply google “define:sesquipedalian” to find a meaning to a word. Then I head over to howjsay.com if I want to know how to correctly pronounce a word. But these days I find myself going to m-w.com more often. Here’s why:
Update: I’ve recently discovered yet another feature available in both the mobile app and the online dictionary. Every word is clickable and directs you to its meaning. I’m sold.
A breathtaking animation inspired by numbers, geometry and nature.
Created by Cristóbal Vila.
Music: “Often a Bird” by Wim Mertens.
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