by: Scott Ford Looking to introduce your friends and family to the wonderful world of computing? In the honor of Hour of Code and Computer Science Education Week, here are some great resources for students of all ages and skill levels: Scratch Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu) is a great environment for learning to make the computer do things. Fun things, like move a monkey around on the screen. I made a small project to celebrate Computer Science Education Week, and to think the teachers that got me started. (http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/15283467/). Scratch's drag and drop interface helps create an intimate relationship with the different operations that it provides. It reminds me a lot of playing with Lego. Logo If you'd like to try typing out commands, then I highly recommend taking a peek at Logo (http://el.media.mit.edu/logo-foundation/logo/turtle.html). To see Logo in action, visit http://www.calormen.com/jslogo/, click on an example in the sidebar and then click on the "Run" button. LittleBits If you'd like to take a stab at making the world around you light up and move, then I suggest taking a peek at littleBits (http://littleBits.cc). These little devices make creating hardware computing projects dead simple. No wiring. No soldering. Just magnets and fun! Lego Mindstorms Interesting in trying to mix software and hardware together? Then check out Lego Mindstorms (http://mindstorms.lego.com). Lego Mindstorms centers around a smart Lego brick, that you can program (with Logo!) and make your creations move. There are even some school teams that compete with each other to build little bots that perform specific tasks (http://www.firstlegoleague.org). So go forth! Have fun! And make your computer and other devices around you do things. It's fun and rewarding. Scott is a Code Whisperer at Corgibytes (http://corgibytes.com). There he works hard to breath new life into old software projects.
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by: Larkin Garbee
As always, we are grateful to our sponsor, Blanchard's Coffee for providing all of our coworkers, night owls, and meetup groups with awesome coffee so that creativity and innovation can continue to flow through the minds of RVA. Calling all students and recent graduates from nearby or not so nearby colleges and universities. Do you have a startup idea, business plan, or a project you are working on? Bring it to jelly day! Join us for a free day of coworking day (AKA-- "Jelly Day"). Come cowork alongside designers, developers, entrepreneurs and consultants. Work alone or with others to brainstorm on your project.
Wednesday February 20th 9am-7pm |
Larkin Garbee
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