This video will step you through setting up Emacs to use MELPA for packages. We configured emacs by creating a folder named .emacs.d and creating a file within it named init.el. Here's the contents of that file: (setq inhibit-startup-message t) (require 'package) (setq package-enable-at-startup nil) (add-to-list 'package-archives '("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/")) (package-initialize) ;; Bootstrap `use-package' (unless (package-installed-p 'use-package) (package-refresh-contents) (package-install 'use-package)) (use-package try :ensure t) (use-package which-key :ensure t :config (which-key-mode)) The last two inituse-package clauses install two helpful packages:

I haven't been teaching this past semester. That's why I haven't been writing much about lessons. I miss working with students but that will resume in the fall and this semester has allowed me to get a jump on new projects. It's also allowed me to look at some student issues from a bit of a distance. One issue that keeps coming up is cheating. Some of it, classroom cheating.

Quick post to add to the recent command line fu I've been writing about. Douglas Peterson had another Whatever happened to post. This time on Logo. I wanted to reply, talk about NetLogo and link to some of my old NetLogo posts to help show how cool it is. Nikola supports tags, makes a nice tags page and for each tag, a nice page of all the links. Nikola has a plugin tags which lets you manage tags from the command line.

Over in the Facebook AP Computer Science Teachers group someone asked for thoughts on covering BASH scripting as a post AP topic. A number of us made suggestions. I linked to this old blog post. One group member said she asked around for similar suggestions and the response she got was "vi and awk." I wanted to jokingly respond "and after they suggested that they got into their time machine and went back to the 70's.

Repost This is a repost from March 2015. It didn't transfer when I rebooted the blog. Original Quick post on why I love the Unix command line. We're busy organizing CSTUY's first hackathon. It's going to be at SumAll, where we hold our weekly hacking sessions but while taking registration, we had a little program. The kids signed up on a Google doc but we all know the story – when people sign up for a free event, even one with free food and t-shirts, many don't show.

Yesterday, Doug Peterson wrote a "Whatever happened to" post subtitled HTML as an essential 21st Century skill? It's a nice post. I left a comment but thought I'd elaborate here. No, knowing HTML is not programming - it's markup. Even so, when I help people design CS programs, I'll frequently recommend starting with HTML or at least introducing it early. Why? It's a gateway and not just to programming.

Some good points in the Facebook comments on my last post. One notable comment was the fact that many teachers wouldn't be able to gain the traction needed to teach CS without an AP designation. This is true but also sad that we've awarded such educational authority to a private company that's accountable to no one. Schools should run courses because they're good for kids not specifically because they're AP.

Yesterday, I ranted on about the College Board. This led to a Facebook hosted discussion which got me thinking a little more: Advanced Placement exams basically exist because we don't trust our high school teachers. I usually use phrases like "society doesn't trust" but let's personalize it this time – for parents, think about whether or not you trust your kids teachers? Do you a large private, unaccountable organization more?

Edit: Just a brief note to clarify a couple of things. As indicated in the comments, this post isn't about what's appropriate for HS CS. It's more about what kids have after they finish their education - be it high school, college, code school, or other. Some of my thoughts are the results of pondering on the exacerbations of friends after interviewing people for entry level positions. The two examples are just to illustrate the point.

The difficulties I've had with the city and DOE are pretty well documented by now. Today I'm going to tell you about my latest dealings with DOE and how they prevented my team from bringing free quality CS education to city students. CSTUY's not running SHIP, its summer program this year. That's not something I'm happy about but part of me knew it might happen. What did surprise me, although it shouldn't have, was the role that the NYC DOE played in preventing it from happening.