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#off-topic
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2019-07-16
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agigao11:07:15

Heya Clojurians, recently I moved to the country-side and thinking about started a summer programming school for the local teens(4-5 of them are passionately interested). None of them has ever written a single line of code and I’m perplexed which path to take regarding choosing a complexity, language or environment for the course. Unfortunately I’m the sole Clojurerian in the country, so our beloved language isn’t a viable option for their future.

Mno11:07:20

I always recommend ruby or python as a starting language, because of their legibility and community. They have almost no prerequisite knowledge and (ruby especially) tend to be very forgiving in regards to style and intent.

kszabo11:07:58

My suggestion is to use: https://htdp.org/

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kszabo11:07:31

or for kids: https://www.realmofracket.com/ This way you get the easy to use DrRacket environment with very helpful error messages.

agigao13:07:43

Hi there! I’m aware of HtDP but it seemed much too advanced in this particular case and Realm of Racket seems just the perfect match! Thank you for a pointer!

Mno11:07:10

if you want something they can just try out really quickly with no installation required: You can show them how to make a javascript game on the browser or something.

agigao13:07:11

@hobosarefriends, I’m considering adapting MIT CS course 6.1x - Intro to CS and Programming through Python (which is available at edx) and it seems a better choice of materials compared to Stanford’s Java and Karel the Robot, or Harvard’s CS50. I’m excluding JS from the the options due to the nature of the language, if I sound much too biased, please prove me wrong :)

Mno14:07:04

Haha, I'm not particularly fond (to be gentle) of the language either, but say what you will, it is ubiquitous and maybe that was important.

Mno14:07:52

Sounds like a good idea though. I haven't seen that course, but be careful not to go too deep into CS because it ends up being a bit too dry, and I would recommend keeping it very practical in nature. Like in a lot of things balance is key.

emccue14:07:48

Brave clojure's cert expired

emccue14:07:06

So that's a thing

emccue14:07:44

@chokheli that is the course I took to learn programming originally

emccue14:07:10

And I turned out not the absolute worst so that's an endorsement

Mno14:07:59

omg it reminds me of terrapin logo, which was my first "real" experience

emccue14:07:44

I have a friend in the biology side of the world learning python through it and it's pretty effective

dmaiocchi16:07:48

Python for 100 line scripts can be usefull

dmaiocchi16:07:51

And also for learning etc but my honest opinion is that for professional software people it is not the best lang. In legacy codebase is also difficult to maintain

Eric Ervin19:07:08

JS is excluded? I'd teach a beginner p5.js (Processing/Javascript) from Getting Started with p5.js. Hello rectangle and ellipse. http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920032076.do

idiomancy22:07:40

Hey, can anyone help me understand what the apply statement in Haskell does? I'm just reading some haskell to understand some examples of a technique, so I don't need to know the language fully to get the gist, but the precise meaning of apply seems to be important. So, for example:

apply :: Filter -> Int -> Bool
I know the Filter -> Int -> Bool part refers to the type signature, but I don't get the apply or ::

hiredman22:07:00

apply is a name :: is "has the type of"

hiredman22:07:33

so "the value bound to apply has the type of Filter -> Int -> Bool"

idiomancy22:07:04

okay, gotcha, so thats the opposite of what I was inferring. I assumed apply was a built in statement

Marisa23:07:44

I am an intern for a technology recruiting company in Southern California. We are interested in using Slack to network with candidates. May I join your group, and may I know what your community guidelines are regarding talking with members if I have a job that might fit them?

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andy.fingerhut23:07:51

I would recommend asking in the #community-development channel. I suspect such communication would be unwelcome in most cases, although maybe the #jobs channel may be appropriate.

andy.fingerhut23:07:24

And thanks for asking first!

dpsutton23:07:27

(although hat-tip for asking)

dpsutton23:07:30

ha. exactly