Github profile: https://github.com/ibasco

I found all of our readings very interesting because I never get challenged to learn about the history of the internet or web development. In this increasingly internet-driven world, this is content that will benefit us in the future going forward, especially as a woman who wants to learn how to code.

“How the Internet Works” was a great video because it condensed complex information into content that was easy and useful to understand. When I press “send” on an email, I never realized that computers break down the information into packets to make tweets, websites or photos. I also loved that they mentioned that the Internet is a “wire” — to think something so complicated and ubiquitous as a wire dumbfounded me because I realize the Internet really is something that makes life easier and may not be as complicated as we perceive it to be.

The “timeline of software languages,” and the “timeline of networking and the web,” were fascinating because learning the history of how technology evolved from Telex messaging to the mobile web and Plan Calculus to HTML5 and Heartbleed Bug was fascinating. As a millennial, the internet has always been fast and available to me but learning about its origins made me realize that like anything, technology had a long process before getting to where it is today.

“Computational thinking and journalism” were also fascinating because it got me to realizing how I can apply a background of web development and technology to journalism. How do I improve my audience’s experiences? How can we evolve, grow and reshape our thinking processes? It reminded me why I am still in school — it is essential for me to always be learning, growing and evolving as a reporter and thinker.

I enjoyed looking over the WordPress philosophy because it acknowledges that many WordPress users (including myself) do not consider themselves technically oriented. All they want to do is post content without any problems and not face too many complicated issues. I love that one of their points is to “strive for simplicity” — that is what technology is all about, making tasks easier for our users to get them from Point A to Point B.

I loved that the GNU Operating System outlined four essential freedoms of free software. Again, I never realized technology had so many philosophies and missions because when I use programs, all I think about how to navigate them. I never think about their underlying goal and what the companies’ goals are for creating these programs.

Finally, the Unix Philosophy was one of my favorite articles because it discussed the importance of writing elegant, robust code. It reminded me that no matter what I do, even in a field as fast and instant as technology, that I have to put sufficient time and energy into making something of any respectable quality.

I honestly am thrilled to learn more from “The Zen of Python,” and am excited I get to refer to the “Pragmatic Programmer Quick Reference Guide.” Overall, I am thrilled to take this course and am excited to see where the “doors of technology” will lead me.

GitHub Profile:https://github.com/alliefoard

My daily basis is spent wiring about different computer processes, due to working as an account coordinator at a PR agency that specialized in Federal IT programs. Although I am able to create content and understand keywords in the website sphere, I have only been aware of one side of the process. As someone who has no true experience in coding or web development, the assigned readings prior to class have helped illuminate a well-rounded background of all that goes into creating and maintaining websites.

In a world where websites and internet connections have taken over, it is easy to only think of the future instead of thinking about the past and what has brought us to this point. I was amazed while reading the timelines of computer software and computer networking to see how long ago the thinking up and first trials of these processes began. The first modem was created back in 1949, this was the year that segregation in the military was ruled out, to put it into perspective.

I was impressed that only 25 years later, the SABRE system was created for American Airlines. This was the first program that allowed travelers to reserve their airline tickets online. Today there are dozens of apps that allow the buying of flights to happen through phones and other devices, making this seem like a casual everyday thing.

Along with the upbringing of the technology, I was also surprised to find out how many different languages of coding there are. To the untrained person like me, it seems as though all websites would use the same type of coding language. However, this is not the case at all. The different languages create different types of systems and processes.

Overall, I look forward to training myself to see and understand the other side of the website curtain.

Link to GitHub profile:   https://github.com/dyoungblood

Analysis:

I found the first video, How the Internet works in 5 Minutes, very interesting. I appreciated learning that the computers and laptops that we work from are not actually servers and are not connected directly to the internet; and that IP addresses are what help servers find each other. Whenever an email, picture, or web page travels across the internet, computers break the information into smaller pieces called “packets”. This is very beneficial to know because even when we are updating our Facebook statuses and sending out tweets, we are actually sending packets back and forth over the internet.

When reading The Timeline of Computer History Article, I enjoyed learning that mathematician, Grace Hopper completed the A-0, a program that allows a computer user to use English-like words instead of numbers to give the computer instructions. This was great to know because it was considered the first commercial business computer system in the United States. Meaning, the many computer systems we have been trained on during our previous employment and internships, all have been stemmed from Hopper’s creation.

The Timeline of Networking and The Web, was by far the most important article to read! It touches on how our main source of communication today was developed, TEXT MESSAGING ! This is important to know because we often just text all day, not paying any mind to how the method of communication was actually developed. Telex started as a way to distribute military messages, but soon became a world-wide network of both official and commercial text messaging. Telex used teleprinters, which dated back to the 1910s for use in telegraphy. The telex system connected those teleprinters to each other over voice telephone lines, routed by modified telephone switches.

Computational thinking and journalism: part 1 and part 2

The discussion of the “programmer-journalist” in part 1 taught me that these are the necessary questions you must ask yourself as a journalist who can do web development…..What would optimize my readers’ viewing experience? What do they want to see? What areas of online journalism are critical for us to take advantage of? This definitely makes me think out of the box.

The most beneficial information I learned from reading WordPress Philosophy, was that as a developer, you must design for the majority. The users that we must design the software for, end users of WordPress that are non-technically minded; They don’t know what AJAX is, nor do they care about which version of PHP they are using. The average WordPress user simply wants to be able to write without problems or interruption. They are ultimately the ones who will use it the most. This simply means , the developer must keep it simple. This idea is especially important to me because I ultimately want to run my on digital magazine , and want to develop a page that will be easy for the digital audience.

The GNU Free Software Philosophy contained a ton of useful information. The most important facts touched on Rules about packaging and distribution details.  it is acceptable for the license to require that you change the name of the modified version, remove a logo, or identify your modifications as yours. As long as these requirements are not so burdensome that they effectively hamper you from releasing your changes, they are acceptable. I think every developer must learn and always know the four essential freedoms…..

1.The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose, 2. The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish; 3. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (interesting for me to read, because this can sometimes conflict with ethical standards of a journalist); 4.The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others.

The best words in this article were established by Dog MCIllroy. ….Write programs that do one thing and do it well. Write programs to work together. Write programs to handle text streams, because that is a universal interface.

The Python Software Foundation / Zen of Python is something that I would like a better understand of. I am curious to learn more about it in depth.  The Pragmatic Programmer Reference Quick Guide is information that every developer should keep handy.

Welcome! Our first class session is Wednesday, May 24 from 5:15-8:15 p.m.

Be sure to thoroughly read the syllabus as soon as possible.

The readings, site registrations and software installations below must be completed by Sunday, May 21 at 5 p.m. The analysis post is due by Monday, May 22 by 10 p.m.

• • Required: *** Complete this survey ***
  • Required: Reading/watch
    • How the Internet works
    • Timeline of software languages
    • Timeline of networking and the web
    • Computational thinking and journalism: part 1 and part 2
    • WordPress software philosophy
    • GNU free software philosophy
    • Unix philosophy
    • The Zen of Python
    • The Pragmatic Programmer Quick Reference Guide
• Required free software**:

• • Download and install Sublime Text
  • Create a free GitHub account
  • Download and install GitHub for Mac or GitHub for Windows and connect it to your GitHub account
• Required: Write analysis post that includes why these ideas matter, what you found most interesting and your main takeaways from topics discussed
  • Include a link to your GitHub profile in the post

**Notes on required software:

• These three programs must be downloaded and installed before the first class to be sure you can hit the ground running.
• If you have problems installing that you can’t resolve by searching online, please contact the instructor as soon as possible.
• After you install them, you don’t have to start using them before class starts, but you’re encouraged to explore what they do and why we’ll be using them.
• Important: Don’t change any MAMP or XAMPP settings unless instructed.

Everyone will receive an individual login for this WordPress site so you can submit the analysis post. If you haven’t used WordPress before, please see the first section on how to post. Be sure to:

• Add a title that briefly describes the content, themes, etc. of your post
• Under “Categories,” check the box for “2017 Summer class”
• Under “Tags,” add one called week0 — with no spaces between week and zero (it will be one of the suggested options when you starting typing “week”). After that you can add other tags that are relevant to what you discuss in your post (e.g. history of programming, computational thinking, etc.)
• If you don’t want your post’s content publicly viewable on the course blog, please change the “visibility” to “password protected” in the publish box (top-right of the post edit page; see instructions) and enter the password I sent by email. That way everyone in class can read it, but not the wider web.
• Change the status to “pending review” and save

Be sure to subscribe to the blog to get all the updates posted here:

After you submit, I’ll read your post and send individual feedback as an “Editorial Comment” (e.g. if I mention any feedback, corrections, copy edits, etc. needed). This is feature made possible by the EditFlow (editorial workflow) plugin. You can reply with another editorial comment and let me know the changes have been made and I can publish.

If there are no corrections or edits you need to make, I’ll make any more conversational comments publicly so others can see and contribute to the discussion.

Update, 5/21/17

In addition to what’s in the syllabus, about about analysis posts:

Analysis/update posts (~300-400 words, 11 total): For assigned readings and self-learning, write reactions and highlight what you found most interesting or had questions about on the course blog. These posts should be a mix of synthesis to show your understanding of the material as well as like a journal of your progress (here’s what I did, here’s what I’m going to do, here’s what hurdles exist, etc.). These are generally due a day after the assignment is due so you have time to reflect on what you learned. Due: Mondays by 10 p.m., unless otherwise specified

Here is some additional information:

The weekly analysis posts don’t need to touch on every single thing covered, especially this time because there was such a variety of material. Ideally, in the case of a reading/video, a post will explore a particular theme or topic you found most interesting. Choose one (or a few) things and go into more depth.

In the future, if most of the work assigned one week is skills-based or project-based, you can reflect on that experience. Also, as mentioned in the syllabus excerpt, those assignments will be when you want to talk about progress you’ve made and any hurdles.

Some brief explanation can be ok, but definitely avoid summarization for the analysis posts. You don’t have to prove you read everything — if that was the case we’d have quizzes 🙂

The point is to do one or more of the following — or something along these lines:

• analyze the materials
• find connections between the materials within a given week (or, in the future, between weeks)
• relate something to your experience (how it could help you, how it enlightened you about something, etc)

If you’ve already submitted, feel free to re-work your post before the first class if you’d like to explore a few things in more detail.

Also, be sure to link back to the materials you reference in your post.

Please let me know if you have any questions by email or in the comments below. I look forward to meeting everyone at the first session of class!