So tonight, we had a get together this evening for library people (many SLAIS students in attendance) who want to learn how to code in a more informal manner without having to take a full course.
Trying to Start
Difficult to get the kind of necessary learning in many formal settings including library schools.
So many things we want to learn and want to learn what would be relevant in libraries. Nevertheless, learning one language will give you the basis for working with others.
PHP was pointed out to be one used a lot in libraries, but not necessary the best to start with.
Where do we start? What is practical? What can we easily start with?
JavaScript
Why not JS? It’s used in both front and back end platforms.
Some examples:
- text adventure tutorial
- waterbear javascript playground
- webmaker starter projects
One of the nice things is that you don’t have to install anything. You could just use one of the many online editors.
What’s Important
The biggest thing that we’re not getting is continuity from workshops, because they’re mostly one-offs.
Need to start somewhere and get to the point where can understand what the problem is, and be able to talk about it.
How to Start
Setting up easy to reach goals for each weekend.
Maybe breaking up into smaller groups to work on common choice.
Some suggested ‘structured’ resources
- Learn [language] in 21 days
- CodeAcademy
Other ideas include a github project where people can submit resources/small projects that can be done in a short time, and be labelled with a difficulty level.