Go Back   Shipping History > Miscellaneous/Other forum Issues > Computers and The Internet

Language!

Post Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 4th January 2018, 16:15
Farmer John's Avatar
Farmer John Farmer John is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: UK
Posts: 1,506
Language!

I went to the library to change my books, they also lent me a little plastic envelope with a little circuit board and some other bits and pieces in it. This is part of the BBC micro:bits initiative, designed to get each and every student started with programming (coding) at a very early age. My knowledge of computers is fairly wide, I was quite pleased to see that a number of "languages" can be used before sending your finished opus to the little clicky board, where it can live until you power it up and run the code you have written. I think this is pretty laudable, but I do feel that one possibility will be that a smallish number of whizzy kids will go on, and the rest will flounder around in a mire of incomprehension, joined by a a good number of staff who will have gone through (very) sketchy training.

Anyone else got any thoughts on this? One of the languages that can be used is "Python", which I have encountered being used as a way of writing add-ons to the GIS software I have used, and skill in that would be interesting.

I am in two minds about this. I think installing a sound basis of logic (which underlies all computer programming) as a separate thing is a skill that has application throughout life and one that is not always mastered. I refer you to the outbreak of flat-earth mania that has broken out here and in The Other Place.

Hmm.
__________________
Buvez toujours, mourrez jamais.
Rabelais
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 4th January 2018, 16:47
erimus's Avatar
erimus United Kingdom erimus is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: North Yorkshire
Posts: 339
We were in the company of a small family a month or so ago.....they were,obviously, on their smartphones or whatever....the girl aged 7 had already started coding at school and their 13 year old son was teaching the class below him!

I tried to learn Cobol in the 60's and was hopeless...

geoff
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 4th January 2018, 18:34
Farmer John's Avatar
Farmer John Farmer John is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: UK
Posts: 1,506
The simplest language is called blocks, it describes it quite well. I think anyone could learn it, and then progress to more sophisticated languages.
__________________
Buvez toujours, mourrez jamais.
Rabelais
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 4th January 2018, 20:02
BobClay's Avatar
BobClay United Kingdom BobClay is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Cornwall UK
Posts: 1,530
Images: 73
When I first started working at a Devon Community College looking after the IT equipment I was surprised that most IT lessons seemed to be about learning how to use software such as word processing/spreadsheets/publishing etc etc, and no actual computer science.

Learning to code definitely gives you a better insight as to how computers work, the lower the level of the code the better, (although much more tedious.)

But this changed as the years passed and coding became part of the syllabus, much enhanced by younger teachers who came in with a better background. For me decades ago the introductory code was good old fashioned versions of BASIC (Beginners All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) much beloved of those early (now quite comical) computers. That was a good introduction to coding techniques and structures and in time you would transit to the likes of 'C' and all it's derivatives and even approach the dreaded 'Assembler' if you wanted your program to fly on the old 486 series of processors.

But modern CPU's and compilers mean you get the speed even from High Level languages. Probably no need to worry about low level manipulations, although I've been retired six years now, so I'm pretty much out of touch, especially considering how fast it is all moving.
__________________
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
Corporal Hicks
(Actually Ripley said it first.)
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 4th January 2018, 21:58
Farmer John's Avatar
Farmer John Farmer John is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: UK
Posts: 1,506
If I have a love of software, a large part of it is for spreadsheets. They just get better and better, and since any cell can have a very complex maths and logic plus data handling formula in it, they are very powerful. The problem is that many that you come across are completely incomprehensible, no explanation as to how they work and imperfectly protected. They usually don't survive being passed on to another generation of users, then someone junks them and starts again. I made one that imitated Napier's bones both in it's operation and it's look, it took ages and the colour change instructions and cell formatting attributes were never completely right, but it was fun. When you get children of thirteen years old passing stuff down to another group, that has to be job done. Great stuff.
__________________
Buvez toujours, mourrez jamais.
Rabelais
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 5th January 2018, 12:06
Hawkey01's Avatar
Hawkey01 Hawkey01 is offline
Super Moderator
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Highbridge UK
Posts: 462
Images: 2669
"QUE" What these men talking about? Sounds like JuJu to me.

I have the new fancy Office 365 and use some of the applications for my photos and ship collection/research. However there are other applications which I want to try but cannot find out or understand how they work. No idiot guides available that I can find. Any ideas where I can find them. Microsoft seem to keep them hidden or from me anyhow.

Neville
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 5th January 2018, 12:21
BobClay's Avatar
BobClay United Kingdom BobClay is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Cornwall UK
Posts: 1,530
Images: 73
There are all kinds of courses on YouTube for all manner of software and hardware (and lots of other subjects.) Just search for the specific titles there's a fair chance you'll find something.

Pottering around with this ICOM IC7300 transceiver I've found a number of videos that made the manual a bit more decipherable.
__________________
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
Corporal Hicks
(Actually Ripley said it first.)
Reply With Quote
Post Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
English Language losing importance in Europe. Binnacle Stormy Weather 11 29th October 2021 18:12


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:27.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.