I received an invite to beta test the Atom.io text editor today.

This is a first post from the JeckyllBootstrap blogging system.
I’m testing it.

via http://www.code.org

I’ve been helping out with a Thomson Reuter’s Youth Programming class (in Rochester NY) which is just finishing up its first session in which we taught ~10 12-14 year olds some basic programming using python. I love making software - the collaborative process, the joining of ideas, the realization through code. I’d like to see the next generation of kids get a head start w/ making software, especially my own kid.

Unfortunately, computer programming isn’t viewed as exciting or powerful or interesting. I know my own in laws can’t understand how I can “sit behind a desk all day”. But they totally “get” sitting down to read a good book for days on end or even cooler, sitting down to WRITE a book. They appreciate beautiful buildings and bridges. Computer programming is akin to all these activities. And for those just starting out, learning to program can a bit difficult to break into. It took many years after college before I had caught the programming bug. Before then, I was happy to punch the clock at the end of the day. Now I find myself not wanting to punch out.

The children of today are very fortunate to have so many great resources to learn about computers and programming. The video above from CodeOrg is a great place to get started. Every time I watch that video I feel inspired to help others “catch the bug” - to become makers of software.

Learn more: http://www.code.org/learn

Teach: http://www.code.org/teach

Help CodeOrg by making a donation: http://www.code.org/help

I volunteered to help with an intro to programming class for 6-8’th graders at work. I had been trying to teach M. some programming at home and I thought it might be interesting to be part of a larger effort. It has rekindled my interest in Python.

Python has been my go-to scripting language if I can’t do it in bash and standard ‘Nix tools like sed and awk. However, I’m not really all that familiar the language’s features. So like learning the R language earlier this year, I’ve taken it the challenge of doing a “real” program with it. More to come on this later. Above is a screen grab of an easter egg hidden in python which attempts to capture the python design mantra - The Zen of Python.

Something must be in the air… hot on the heels of Posterous closing their doors Memolane is shutting down as well. Memolane aggregated my social/clound content, like photos, facebook posts, etc, and put it into a timeline.

In my inbox today Memolane informed me that their team “.. is joining another company that will utilize the Memolane features in an expanded way..” which

… means that we will be shutting down the memolane.com service. Your account with Memolane and all its content will be deleted on Friday Feb. 22th. Please note that Memolane only aggregates content so all of your social media memories will still be available on the existing social media services you use. – http://blog.memolane.com/2013/02/21/thank-you-for-a-wonderful-two-years/

Umm.. February 22’nd is tomorrow! Thats really short notice! However, since they only aggregate content its not like I’ll be losing anything. Honestly, I seldom visited my the Memolane site, but I really enjoyed the e-mail that they would send daily. Usually it was a photo from my timeline.. which usually was a cute picture of my daughter.

Their notice kind of alludes to Facebooks timeline being the “ultimate validation” of their idea.. and maybe that is why the service is no more.?