Education

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Computers are complex and stupid.
Complex: because with every passing day our dependence on technology increases and our understanding of it decreases.
Stupid: because computers don’t think, they don’t reason–they just do exactly as they are told.

So when software, networks, or technology systems stop working, the person best prepared to fix or improve them is the person who knows how to tell technology what to do (and just as importantly, what not to do), when to do it, and how to go about doing it.

Thankfully, we can use the world around us to learn the principles necessary to demystify software specifically, but also technology as a whole. Systems are all around us. The body system, the weather system, solar system, etc. Networks are also right in front of us: transportation networks, cell networks (phones or blood!), and even social networks. 

Nature provides the foundational principles for understanding how systems and networks operate and flourish, and how code utilizes the structures within those networks. Much can be leaned about software from studying trees, rivers, subways, and lightning. When you understand how the behind-the-scenes of the systems works, you can start to control the flow of the system, rather than being controlled by it.

“PULL THE LEVER, KRONK!”

. . .

“Wrong leverRRRRR!”

In the Emperor’s New Groove, Yzma tells Kronk to pull the lever to simply open a door. Instead, the lever opens a trapdoor beneath Yzma. Working with technology can sometimes be like Kronk pulling the wrong lever. Unexpected things happen, but the more you understand the levers that make the system function, the better you’ll be at picking the right levers. Gain agency over technology. The more you understand, the more choice you have in how the technological systems (levers) work. Gain agency over the complex/stupid computer by learning all the different levers at your disposal by determining where in the system you are, and learning the ripple effect (downstream) of each different lever.


September

  • HTML
  • CSS
  • JavaScript
  • Networking
  • Browsers
  • File Structure
Monday
Sept. 14th
Intro to Systems: Nuts and BitsBits, Nibbles, Bytes
Binary, Hexadecimal
Stupid, Computers Are
Color, Numbers, Counting
Why is December the 12th month?
6pm – 9pmThe Marketplace at Camano Commons
Thursday
Sept. 17th
Intro To Systems: Tree Nuts and Root BitsHTML
Markup vs. Programming
Code Editors
Directory and File Structure
Parent vs. Child
Language Structure
6pm – 9pmThe Marketplace at Camano Commons
Monday
Sept. 21st
Logic As A Service: Getting Stupid Computers to Behave How did we get here?
Hierarchy
CSS
Cascading code
Inheritance, preference, priority, and !important
DOMinating the web browser
6pm – 9pmThe Marketplace at Camano Commons
Thursday
Sept. 24th
Logic As A Service: Getting Stupid Computers to do What You WantWeb Structure
Syntax
Code as a Body: Bones -> Clothes -> Movement
JavaScript
Arrays and Objects
6pm – 9pmThe Marketplace at Camano Commons
Monday
Sept. 28th
Networking: Getting Under the CanopyDebugging
Console
Validation
Command Line
Forms and Inputs
6pm – 9pmThe Marketplace at Camano Commons
Thursday
Oct. 1st
Networking: Relationships As The Backbone of the InternetAll networks that are healthy and flourishing have one thing in common: relationships. Software is abstract and the relationships can be hard to see. But once you see them…you can’t unsee them!
Networking
IP Addresses
DNS System
XAMPP
Routing
6pm – 9pmThe Marketplace at Camano Commons
More to Come in October…
Bringing It All TogetherConnecting The Dots

October

  • Routing & Networking
  • Servers
  • Domain Names
  • jQuery
  • AJAX
  • Loops

November

  • Web Applications
  • Responsible Code
  • LAMP
  • PHP
  • Databases
  • WordPress

December

  • Recap and Testing
  • Personal Website
  • Git / GitHub

Intro to Programming Systems

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