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ActualCode.md

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Actual Coders

Formal Computing education feels misaligned with it's learners.

Manifesto

  • We don't care about your 'syllabus' or your 'business objectives', 'grade boundaries' or 'OKRs'
  • We enjoy just prating around with computers, we are interested and curious
  • We actually want to build something with code, because we can - not because somebody set us a lame task to meet their own addenda
  • We love being creative and building pointless stuff
  • We don't video our sessions or demos because we prefer to talk to real people rather than cameras and screens
    • Without video we prioritise human-interaction/community and reinforce our own understanding of a topic enough to relay it someone else
  • Our greatest assets are our passion and the people around us
  • We are tired of teachers shovelling us boring theory when those teachers can't actually do anything with code themselves
    • e.g. Talking about networks, but nobody in the room can send an actual UDP packet to another machine
  • We don't care about categorising people. We're going to engage in actual code with other actual human beings
  • If you regularly attend gatherings with other coders you will take the identity of 'a coder'
    • Identity comes before skill
  • We know the process of coding is hard and uncomfortable
    • You may not enjoy the process of coding (yet), but if you develop a rich enough skill-set (over years) you will not just enjoy it ... You could deeply love the process and use your skills to augment your life and the people around you.
    • (But getting there is years of getting your ass kicked)
  • Nobody can get good alone
    • 'Talking about code' is time consuming, but
      • Creates better quality results
      • Helps everyone grow in skill
    • To build anything complex, we have to work in teams
      • Making meaningful change is not a solo sport

We want to Actual(ly) code. We can't do it alone. We can do it together.

Concept

Local karate clubs have a huge range of ages and abilities - so why can't we? 12 year old absolute beginners, to professional developers, and everyone in between

Audience

  • School students (KS3, KS4, KS5)
  • Undergraduates (from multiple institutions)
  • Local community wanting to upskill
  • Junior developers (and beyond)

Same evening each week - free food All skill levels welcome

Activities

  • Pair problem of the week
  • Showcases
  • Theory (towards qualifications)
  • Themes (demo's, direction, starting points)
  • Self directed space to just chat and code
  • Just sitting around and having free food

Organisers

Other existing concepts (for reference)

  • Techspressionist Manifesto (v2.0)
  • coderdojo.com - Aimed specifically at KS2/KS3m
  • codekata.com - Just need to practice - a LOT - tasks
  • Coding Dojo
  • programming-motherXXXXer.com - Do you speak it?
  • YouTube: Raspberry Pi Foundation - Computing Clubs Conference: Live from the main stage | 25 March 2023 2023
    • 09:00–09:30 How can computing education research help me run my club? - Jane Waite, Raspberry Pi Computing Education Research Centre
    • 09:30–10:00 It's not just coding - Fiona Lindsay, Code Club
    • 10:00–10:30 How can assistive technology benefit your club? - Rhodri Smith, Code Club
    • 10:30–11:00 Our club's success and approach - Doña Keating, CoderDojo
    • 11:00–11:30 Code Club and Astro Pi: Success for a whole school approach - Sophie Hudson, Code Club
    • BREAK
    • 12:00–12:30 Everything you need to know about Coolest Projects - Helen Gardner, Raspberry Pi Foundation
    • 12:30–13:00 Community translation event: Blowing raspberries or speaking in tongues? - Marcus Davage, BMC Software Ltd
    • BREAK
    • 14:30–15:00 Welcoming the next generation of mentors & champions - John McAtominey, Raspberry Pi Foundation
    • 15:00–15:30 How Scratch powers our Dojo - David Morley, Royal Museums Greenwich
    • 15:30–16:00 Digitising Aruba in a sustainable way - Bruce Harms, CoderDojo
    • BREAK
    • 16:45–17:30 Closing keynote.
  • The Code Club Blog

Alternate names

  • Code Crew
  • Kode Krew
    • I decided against .. Kent Kode Krew ... The KKK
  • Code Zone
  • Bootstrap Code

Notes

  • Get parents + others joining

Getting buy-in

BCS Learning and Development Specialist Group: https://www.bcs.org/membership-and-registrations/member-communities/learning-and-development-specialist-group/
BCS Early Careers Executive (includes apprentices) https://www.bcs.org/membership-and-registrations/member-communities/bcs-early-careers-executive/
Talk about speaking with execs (2 versions):
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTP4kIy6C8I
        1. One outcome away from being publicly fired
        2. Executives are just people. They are lonley because of the power disparity. Can't trust what people say to you.
            * Every decision is either typei:cant-go-back typeii:can-be-reversed
        3. They don't know everything, but people expect them too. Imposter syndrome. Be careful about the assumptions you make (jargon)
            * Ask them to explain the problem they are having to you
        4. Speak truth they can trust 
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtztfImcsBI

Other related

  • Why I Love Coding
    • The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks.
    1. The sheer joy of making things.
    2. The pleasure of making things that are useful to other people.
    3. The fascination of fashioning complex puzzle-like objects of interlocking moving parts, and watching them work in subtle cycles, playing out the consequences of principles built in from the beginning.
    4. The joy of always learning, which springs from the non repeating nature of the task.
    5. The delight of working in such a tractable medium. The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure thought-stuff. He builds his castles in the air, from air, creating by exertion of imagination.
    6. The expressiveness of code.
  • These are the storytelling lessons I learned from Steve Jobs
    • The story is more important than the product
  • YOU SHOULD START A COMPUTER CLUB IN THE PLACE THAT YOU LIVE
    • Recurse Center: Social rules
      • No well-actually’s

        • Alice: I just installed Linux on my computer! Bob: It’s actually called GNU/Linux.

      • No feigned surprise

        • Dan: What’s the command line? Carol: Wait, you’ve never used the command line?

      • No backseat driving

        • Bob: What’s the name of the string copy function? Alice: Strncpy. Eve: (from across the room) You should use strlcpy. It’s safer.

      • No subtle -isms

        • Carol: Windows is hard to use. Bob: No way. Windows is so easy to use that even my mom can use it.