Teaching Programming to Kids

Just the other day, it just popped into my head that perhaps I should teach Chloe, who is now 6 years and 7 months old, programming.

After looking around, I have finally decided to go with FMSLogo. It’s visual, interpreted and simple enough for kids. In addition, I also vaguely remember that I had also used Logo long ago when I started my association with programming as well.

It definitely helps that there are online resources that give additional guidance on how to make this work with kids. Given my lack of time, the availability of such material as the Logo Workshop Homepage really makes it so much easier.

Since my sister’s also has 2 kids in the same age range, I extended the offer to teach them together. Hope that works out and doesn’t become a nightmare!

Well, planning to start either next weekend or the following one and it should be a weekly session. Updates once we get going.

Additional resources for those interested in using Logo for teaching kids programming: MSWLogo Homepage and its links to many more resources.

Filed under: Family, Happenings, IT Architecture, Design and Programming, Notes

Thoughts on Tibco General Interface

Well I mentioned I’ll share my thoughts on this rich client toolkit when I finally find some time and I guess there is no better time than now.

So after putting it through its paces for more than a year, here are some of my thoughts on it.

For use in or as an enterprise grade application, there would need to be quite a bit of work done to provide the plumbing infrastructure. And it is substantially different from the usual Internet applications and its AJAX-enabled brethens.

So there is a need to understand its quirks and constraints and handle them accordingly.

Also, don’t expect blazing performance. Unfortunately, once the pages becomes more complicated the rendering tends to slow its down substantially. The generated HTML elements are rather heavy.

The good news is that the newer browser versions do speed it up substantially as well. But the browsers that are suppported are constrained by the version of the toolkit that you use.

Unfortunately, newer versions may break the application instead of having it degrade gracefully – as in still usable but not looking so nice.

Support also unfortunately isn’t that great – the community isn’t that big and the company’s official support is extremely expensive and you may or may not get real mileage out of that.

That said, the newer versions do add significant features – some of them similar to what we had to build ourselves as we were using an earlier version.

As in all situations, whether this toolkit is for you depends on your context. But you should always go in with your eyes open.

Filed under: IT Architecture, Design and Programming

It’s all about time

Time seems to be constantly in short supply and with my work buzzing up and not being able to really sit down and write… it’s been quite a while since my last post.

Hopefully I will be able to find some time soon to do a more meaningful post.

So what have I been up to recently? I’ve been getting acquainted with TIBCO General Interface – an opensource toolkit for AJAX development. It has it quirks and issues but overall it’s quite an impressive and useful tool to consider if you are planning to do some AJAX applications. Once I can find more time, I’ll probably share more of my thoughts on it.

I’ve also been introduced to Conquer Club. It’s an online game that is somewhat similar to the boardgame RISK but with lots of different maps and variations. Each player is allowed 24 hours for a move in the normal games, speed games are available for paid members.

Until next time then. Bye!

Filed under: Games, Happenings, IT Architecture, Design and Programming, Internet, Software

Ask Tom

It has been getting very busy at work. But it has been enriching.

Recently, I had to review some architectural solution and had some discussions on databases. As a result, I found a great resource for Oracle databases: Ask Tom.

I had some queries about whether referential integrity should be enforced at the database level or the application level and found the answer there. And do you know how many Oracle database instances you should run in a machine if you have several applications?

The site contains a wealth of information about stuff related to Oracle databases. So if you have an Oracle database question, you may want to check out the answers and discussions there.

Filed under: IT Architecture, Design and Programming