On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament], ‘Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?’ I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
— Charles Babbage
You have to write down what you’re going to abandon, you’ve got to see how it works in the whole thing, and then throw it away.
— Leonard Cohen
Location: Bennington College
Term(s): Fall 2011
Class size: TBD
We will learn how HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript can be used to create Web (i.e., non-native) applications for smart phones. We will build several applications that demonstrate the potential to address mobile computing needs.
| Prerequisite: | Ideally, some experience with HTML, CSS, and/or JavaScript. For those without such experience, a short workshop (TBA) will be offered |
| Credits: | 2 |
| Time: | M/Th 4:10 – 6pm (This class meets during the SECOND seven weeks) |
Location: Bennington College
Term(s): Fall 2011
Class size: 5
For students with some programming experience, we will explore the structure, syntax, and philosophy of seven different programming languages in an effort to understand the reasoning underlying each model of problem solving and the types of problems to which each is well-suited.
| Prerequisite: | Programming experience or permission of instructor. |
| Credits: | 2 |
| Time: | M/Th 4:10 – 6pm (This class meets during the FIRST seven weeks) |
Location: Bennington College
Term(s): Fall 2011
Class size: ~ 20 students/term
Students will rediscover the foundational ideas that gave rise to modern computing including Boolean logic, binary arithmatic, algorithms, Turing machines, transistor logic, stored program computing, and modern computer hardware and software architectures. Students will learn to program in at least one computer language and will explore the problem solving idioms unique to computational thinking.
Location: Bennington College
Term(s): Spring 2011
Class size: ~ 20 students/term
Educators are beginning to attend to the challenges of developing meaningful computer science education: identifying a common core of intended learning outcomes, instructional designs, and assessments. Computer scientists are beginning to attend to the challenges of making computing relevant to communities and society and educating the next generation of computing professionals.
However, existing approaches to teaching computing tend to focus on small projects, solely for the consumption of the teacher and students in the class (“toy projects”); formal methods (the “traditional” approach); game development (“projects about toys”); or examples intended to be meaningful to the digital generation (“relevant” projects, but with a lower-case “r”).
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When a new product comes out, it takes 6-12 months for production of accessories to ramp up, by which time you already have something that works (rather than something you’d love to have) and you’re approaching a new product release (which will change the device’s form factor). For example, iPhone 4 cases… MacBook cases… iPad cases, etc…
I love my MacAlly faux-suede Bookstand iPad case… I worried about ordering them sight unseen, but I couldn’t have been happier with mine — it has provided great protection and no fuss. It gives me access to all the ports and gives me comfort when I put the iPad into a bag.
Yet, if these two things had been out at the time, I might have gone with the combination of them, instead:
I don’t whether I would have liked them better or worse than the Bookstand, but I like the idea of them.
Location: Bennington College
Term(s): Fall 2010
Class size: ~ 7 students/term
Students will engage in group critiques of both individual project program code and free & open source program code to explore idioms and best practices in several programming languages: JavaScript, Ruby/Rails, and Processing, for example.
Students will be expected to present on at least one technology and one project as well as to actively engage in providing feedback on others projects.
Location: Bennington College
Term(s): Fall 2010
Class size: ~ 7 students/term
How does information influence individuals, groups, organizations, communities, governments, and society? Why do we share information? Is information a scarce resource? Understanding what information is and how it can be created, shared, manipulated, or destroyed is increasingly critical in understanding public policy and civic engagement. This course will explore how access to or lack of access to information changes how we behave individually and collectively. We will consider policy areas such as education, health care, the environment, science research, intellectual property, and governance and analyze how information supports and detracts from these discussions.
Our job is to hold a mirror up to nature. To constantly examine who we are, how we got here, and how we’re managing to get through all of this.
— Tom Hanks