What?
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely.
Why?
Together with Ubi de Feo, our infamous Arduino trainer and co-owner of the Hello, Savants! collective we've co-produced this workshop. Although it's possible to find proper programming courses, we've developed a completely new approach that creates a thorough understanding of what a programming language actually is in terms of the mathematical structure that is the core of these languages.
How?
We will really start from scratch and use marbles, boxes, paper and strings to understand the logic of programming. Using a counting system with 8 positions you will see how the binaries work. Using physical strings to understand how 'strings of characters' work and look. This sounds like a kindergarten, and it is! But doing it like this makes something that initially feels very abstract become clearer and more logical. We also think it embeds itself more firmly in the brain like this as well. People that always thought they were bad at mathematics could be switching on their mathematical brains.
What to bring?
You need to bring your laptop to do your coding. Preferred operating systems are OSX and Linux. If you have a Windows computer let us know so we can give you instructions or tips on how to deal with that. We strongly advise you to update / download Chrome before you arrive. After updating / installing please surf to: Ideone and register (for free) to have more compiling options. If you do this it at home will save us a lot of precious time during the workshop!
Information
The workshop takes place on Friday April 20 in Mediamatic Bank, Vijzelstraat 68 in Amsterdam from 10.00 to 17.00. Doors open at 09.30.
Participation costs € 75 including VAT. You can buy your ticket online by clicking 'buy a ticket' at the top of this page. With this workshop in your pocket you can go ahead and start writing your own code, grasp the essence of other general purpose programming languages and join the Arduino Intermediate workshop, that usually has strict requirements for the joining participants. For questions you can contact Deborah Meibergen.
