Re: [BLUG] BLUG ideas

Steven Black wrote:
> *SNIP*
> Yeah. I gew up on DOS as well. That was mostly just because there were
> a lot of games for it, though. I even wrote Batch files. In fact, I used
> the rebranded 4DOS (command.com alternative) that was bundled with Norton
> Utilities (IIRC), right up until I moved to Linux. I nearly wet myself
> when I discovered the power of BASH.
>
> I did have early exposure to UNIX-like operating systems, though.
>
I remember using 4DOS... I actually stuck with MS until 2004, though I
wanted to get into Linux years before.

> *SNIP*
> Yeah, Logo is popular. I remember it from when I was young, though. I
> thought it was crap. You couldn't do anything "real" with it. So why
> bother learning it first?
>
Logo provides immediate visual feedback, so it's good for young
children. You can still learn the fundamentals of programming.
> I cut my teeth on Borland's Turbo Basic. Don't get me wrong, this was a
> great product and *much* better than the then-current MS alternative.
> However, I always felt shackled by it. I knew it wasn't powerful enough
> to do some of the things I wanted to do, and it was just a matter of
> time until I was forced to learn something better.
>
I used QBasic back in the day. I wrote some pretty elaborate scripts to
handle the tedious parts of my math homework.
> I left Basic wholesale. I uninstalled the IDE and I wiped all my old
> code the day I decided to learn C. I never went back. Instead I wondered
> why I didn't just learn C to start with.
>
Starting with C is like learning to drive on a manual transmission. You
have to get past not stalling the engine before you can leave the
driveway and actually learn how to drive.
> These days there are other options for first languages. You can do
> "real" things with Python, and there are rich libraries to draw from.
>
That's why Python is so popular. It's derived from a language that was
designed for teaching programming, but it has real power.
> Why recommend someone learn something that is ultimately valueless?
> That's like recommending my kid start out with FreeDOS and Command.com,
> so they think BASH is super cool once they move on to it. Where's the
> value? It only adds to the confusion, and prevents early mastery of the
> best practices.
>
It depends on how you define value. I always found visual feedback
helpful when learning new concepts. The best practices apply no matter
what language you use, but some languages make it easier to learn than
others. Solving problems with the tools at hand requires the same
mindset. For young children (say, age 7 or younger), it makes more sense
to keep the tools approachable. The thought process should transfer to
what ever language you introduce after that.
> *SNIP*
> That's where transparent proxies fall in to place. Out-going ports are
> filtered so everything gets properly proxied and monitored or they get
> nothing.
>
> You *can* do content filtering, and it is possible to do it so that it
> actually works as designed. The problem though is that it rarely prevents
> kids from getting where they want to go. The easiest solution is to just
> go to a friend's house.
>
> My goal is to be that friend's house. Allow them to get the information
> they want and need. However, if something comes up that I should be aware
> of, I should be able to find out.
>
So you want to be the "Cool Dad" that all the kids wish they had. :) I
salute your goal and wish you the best. Be sure to do a presentation for
BLUG on how you set up your filtering/monitoring setup once it's done.
> People worry about sex and drugs and preditors. Sometimes they totally
> fail to spot things like anorexia (or the fact that there is a whole
> "pro-anna" community online that encourages the anorexic look). Then you
> have the fact that some of the kids themselves act like preditors...
>
> Ultimately the goal is for my kid to think for herself and make the
> right decisions. Correct decisions are rarely made in an information
> vacuum.
>
Education is always good. Again, I salute you.
>>> 4. An on-going report grading distributions for comparison purposes.
>>>
>> 4. Distrowatch is the closest thing I know of, but it doesn't do what
>> you're looking for. Maybe someone else can help.
>>
>
> This would be why it would qualify as an idea for if not a series
> of meetings topics, than an on-going BLUG-related project with
> regular status updates. Plus a lot of folks like to try out the latest
> distributions. Some of the work happens on its own, and it is only the
> "scorecard" that really needs to be standardized upon.
>
This would be a cool project to start. Maybe we should start a wiki page
for this and figure out some useful criteria to rate distros on.

#5 has been answered better by others than I could do myself.
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