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Germans React to UK’s micro:bit

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Re: Germans React to UK’s micro:bit

#71

People really upvote anything that contains "react" these days...

Your comment reminds me of quantum theory (you know, the part about observing...) I didn't vote on your comment, but it looks like it contains "react" and got downvoted, so stating that "anything" would get upvoted obviously wasn't true. However, if you hadn't had written it, the claim could have still been true. So, your writing about some fact... might have changed it. Is there a name for that kind of occurence?

"self-defeating"

(though I thought OP's comment was actually quite funny.

Re: Germans React to UK’s micro:bit

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially if you have someone who is more hands on getting stuck on a cryptic interpreter error. We are all likely familiar with the non-informative "syntax error".

All too familiar :) Semicolons are kind of an un-intuitive thing for the novice. And languages have more complex rules than "put semicolon at the end of every statement" :/ "non-informative "syntax error"" We as an industry really need to improve error messages. I got a new chip and pin card the other day, and forgot you had to go to an atm to activate it first. Error 2392729???? How about, "please activate at an atm…

And i think that was what drew many over to Linux from Windows. At least now you got some error messages that made sense (most of the time, i have seen the kernel barf up non-informative oops related to DRI because of something Mesa was doing).

Re: Germans React to UK’s micro:bit

#73

People really upvote anything that contains "react" these days...

Your comment reminds me of quantum theory (you know, the part about observing...) I didn't vote on your comment, but it looks like it contains "react" and got downvoted, so stating that "anything" would get upvoted obviously wasn't true. However, if you hadn't had written it, the claim could have still been true. So, your writing about some fact... might have changed it. Is there a name for that kind of occurence?

> Is there a name for that kind of occurence?

Heisenberg uncertainty principle [1].

Another example is this "died in a blogging accident" xkcd comic: https://xkcd.com/369/.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle

Re: Germans React to UK’s micro:bit

#74
post #2

It's somewhat surprising to me that the "block editor" thing is so popular in these beginner kits. My son (almost 11) was introduced to it at school[1] and did not find it intuitive at all. We then got an Arduino and started to write some simple programs, and he took to it right off the bat. The Arduino programming platform is simple enough to get a 10-year old started off and scales so well to "professional" project…

There are two things to untangle here: 1) Yes, agree that "blocks" editors are not terribly useful. I brought an Arduino redbot for my daughters (10 and 8) and after a couple of failed attempts at scratch-like programming, they actually found the C code immediately easier. This is so unintuitive! Ideas? 2) that the micro:bit is worse than the arduino; I don't think block programming or sourcecode has any bearing on t…

My idea: just another instance to use this quote.

> Linux supports the notion of a command line or a shell for the same reason that only children read books with only pictures in them. Language, be it English or something else, is the only tool flexible enough to accomplish a sufficiently broad range of tasks. -- Bill Garrett

Or maybe it's just that kids are smarter than we like to think and are especially good at noticing what's going on when we try and set up no-failure situations for them, they notice that we expect so little of them we even created this giant special drag-drop-the-blocks interface that we never actually use ourselves just for them and their simple minds. (I'm not a fan of spoon-fed educational substitutes...)

Re: Germans React to UK’s micro:bit

#75
post #22
post #2

It's somewhat surprising to me that the "block editor" thing is so popular in these beginner kits. My son (almost 11) was introduced to it at school[1] and did not find it intuitive at all. We then got an Arduino and started to write some simple programs, and he took to it right off the bat. The Arduino programming platform is simple enough to get a 10-year old started off and scales so well to "professional" project…

What about 5 year olds? Lots of them have trouble typing in properly.

Typically for a 5 year old I'd point them to something more like Scratch Jr, or the themed PBS KIDS Scratch Jr. http://pbskids.org/apps/pbs-kids-scratchjr.html

Re: Germans React to UK’s micro:bit

#76
post #46
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Words in titles are conventionally capitalized (with the exception of "the", "a" and similar).

I've often wondered: Is it an English thing or an American thing? Is it recent or has it always been the rule? Does it depend on the 'class' of the publication? To me it is unreadable, a real PITA to process such capitalised titles. Especially with English language, for it has very short words, hence capitals can harm the reading rhythm every 4 or 5 characters; and the same word can be a noun, an adjective or a verb…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_case#Headings_and_publi... doesn't have much info, but does claim:

"As regards publication titles it is, however, a common typographic practice among both British and U.S. publishers to capitalise significant words (and in the United States, this is often applied to headings, too)"

As to readability: I think you should see title case as a way to make text more noticable without going for the nuclear option "ALL UPPERCASE". If you look at it that way, you will be happy whenever you see title case.

Re: Germans React to UK’s micro:bit

#77
post #44
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, It was probably me you saw keynoting - perhaps at this year's EuroPython? I'm one of the volunteers behind the MicroPython related work for the micro:bit. Sorry you thought I was nationalistic. That's completely the opposite to my intention. :-( To set the record straight, my point about the Acorn BBC micro was only: 1) The BBC already have done something like this before and have "form", resources and reach in t…

FWIW, it wasn't EuroPython. It was Muc2016 in Aachen, Germany (human computer interaction conference) Thanks for the explanation :) We're pretty much in agreement overall, some project choices just seemed odd though. These projects tend to be bureaucratic beasts on top of the technical challenges. One of the interesting takeaways was that the micro:bit team learned a lot of non-technical lessons that are valuable (ho…

One of the great things about the Microbit is how simple it is - sometimes it is so much more difficult to produce something that is simple and intuitive, and that's the case here. The Pi Zero is a great device, of course, but as a full single-board computer it requires an SD card with OS, keyboard, display, etc. Now with all those add-ons it no longer costs 6 pounds, and neither is it as simple to use. With the Microbit, I've sat down with both young students and teachers and taught them how to use the block-style language to write a simple program and upload it in just a few minutes. They can then plug in a battery pack and walk away with it to show to their friends. It's a great board. Having Bluetooth on it is a ++, since you can then program it from a mobile phone. How great is that?

In the US it's been wonderful to watch the development of Adafruit's Circuit Playground, another really great board for learning. It has a slightly different intent, and it's programmed using the traditional Arduino framework, but having the Neopixels, speaker, microphone, and so many positions to attach clips for expansion etc is just brilliant. It's also super portable with a battery pack once you've flashed a program onto it.

Having all these options for learning computing gives educators, parents, and kids the ability to select what's right for them: the challenge now might just be getting the information out there so that it's easy for them to pick!

Re: Germans React to UK’s micro:bit

#78
post #46
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Words in titles are conventionally capitalized (with the exception of "the", "a" and similar).

I've often wondered: Is it an English thing or an American thing? Is it recent or has it always been the rule? Does it depend on the 'class' of the publication? To me it is unreadable, a real PITA to process such capitalised titles. Especially with English language, for it has very short words, hence capitals can harm the reading rhythm every 4 or 5 characters; and the same word can be a noun, an adjective or a verb…

I can't speak to other countries, but it seems to be the norm in the US. APA (American Psychological Association) style calls for capitalization of major words in titles, and that seems to be the most commonly assigned style for college students. The other two common styles I've seen referenced in the US, MLA (Modern Language Association) and Chicago Manual of Style (usually just referred to as Chicago style) both also call for similar capitalization.

I don't know of any standards that call for normal sentence capitalization for titles, so I assume they must be in-house standards or some standard that is not common in my domain.

Re: Germans React to UK’s micro:bit

#79
post #55
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, it wasn't EuroPython. It was Muc2016 in Aachen, Germany (human computer interaction conference) Thanks for the explanation :) We're pretty much in agreement overall, some project choices just seemed odd though. These projects tend to be bureaucratic beasts on top of the technical challenges. One of the interesting takeaways was that the micro:bit team learned a lot of non-technical lessons that are valuable (ho…

Great stuff and many thanks for responding! Hah... it wasn't me talking at Muc2016. I wonder who it was? I'd love to know who... :-) FWIW, here's my EuroPython keynote, including singing micro:bits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVaF6uZuSIU Would love feedback!

It was David Crellin.
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