Recently Andrew Edwards posted ein translation of the Mercenne Twister pseudo random generator. During private discussion it showed that he is a 30-year old beginning programmer who really wants to get his hands dirty (only few do), but doesn't know how to go about it.

While I would like to help him, it's too inefficient to do this privatly.

But done in the public this could offer a number of synergies:

   - There might be others, who want to learn or who want to tutor.

   - The communications and examples could be a start for larger D tutorial.
     Maybe Justin's "very short D tutorial" http://jcc_7.tripod.com/d/ could be enlarged
     or the material at least gathered in the Wiki4D, or later in Benji's repository.

   - The experiences in teaching D could also give valuable information for the standard
     library development.

A lot of people here think that D is a good language, not only for programming veterans, but also for newcomers. Maybe we can prove this?

So the initial plan might be this:

   - Let's do a "Tutorial D Course" for a period of about 3 months,
     starting about Nov 7, 2003. This gives us time to plan it.

   - The course can happen when at least 3 people attend it
     (there's a maximum of 8, Andrew has a reservation if he wants)
     participants should plan with an average time of 1 hour per day
     to work on the tasks and participate in the discussions.

   - The course can happen when at least 3 people tutor it
     (there's a maximum of 5 tutors, I volunteer if there is a need)
     I'm sure that the tutors can learn at least as much as the
     participants. Also about one hour per day to prepare the
     examples and to help with the solutions.

The course plan is open for discussion. I think that after a short introduction to get everybody going, each level might consist of small number of tasks (simple..medium) that should be solved within 3-5 days and then the presentation and discussion of the various solutions and problems (also of general programming or problem solving nature). This might take another 3-5 days. So we could do about 6-8 rounds and develop about 20-30 example programs... ...but these are only my initial ideas - feel free to refactor.

Communication: I think that we could talk Walter into opening a separate newsgroup for such a project. Things of permanent value could be stored in the Wiki4D or any other editable repository or community space then available.

Anyone interested in working this out, participating, tutoring or hosting?

-- 
Helmut Leitner    leitner@hls.via.at
Graz, Austria   www.hls-software.com

"Helmut Leitner" <leitner@hls.via.at> wrote in message news:3F7D335E.9FF34229@hls.via.at...
> Recently Andrew Edwards posted ein translation of the Mercenne Twister
pseudo random
> generator. During private discussion it showed that he is a 30-year old
beginning programmer
> who really wants to get his hands dirty (only few do), but doesn't know
how to go about it.
>
> While I would like to help him, it's too inefficient to do this privatly.
>
> But done in the public this could offer a number of synergies:
>
>    - There might be others, who want to learn or who want to tutor.
>
>    - The communications and examples could be a start for larger D
tutorial.
>      Maybe Justin's "very short D tutorial" http://jcc_7.tripod.com/d/
could be enlarged
>      or the material at least gathered in the Wiki4D, or later in Benji's
repository.
>
>    - The experiences in teaching D could also give valuable information
for the standard
>      library development.
>
> A lot of people here think that D is a good language, not only for
programming veterans,
> but also for newcomers. Maybe we can prove this?
>
> So the initial plan might be this:
>
>    - Let's do a "Tutorial D Course" for a period of about 3 months,
>      starting about Nov 7, 2003. This gives us time to plan it.
>
>    - The course can happen when at least 3 people attend it
>      (there's a maximum of 8, Andrew has a reservation if he wants)
>      participants should plan with an average time of 1 hour per day
>      to work on the tasks and participate in the discussions.
>
>    - The course can happen when at least 3 people tutor it
>      (there's a maximum of 5 tutors, I volunteer if there is a need)
>      I'm sure that the tutors can learn at least as much as the
>      participants. Also about one hour per day to prepare the
>      examples and to help with the solutions.
>
> The course plan is open for discussion. I think that after a short introduction to get everybody going, each level might consist of small number of tasks (simple..medium) that should be solved within 3-5 days and then the presentation and discussion of the various solutions and problems (also of general programming or problem solving nature). This might take another 3-5 days. So we could do about 6-8 rounds and develop about 20-30 example programs... ...but these are only my initial ideas - feel free to refactor.
>
> Communication: I think that we could talk Walter into opening a separate newsgroup for such a project. Things of permanent value could be stored in the Wiki4D or any other editable repository or community space then available.
>
> Anyone interested in working this out, participating, tutoring or hosting?

I think it's a good idea. A tutorial is sorely lacking.

> 
>    - There might be others, who want to learn or who want to tutor. 

I am in a similar situation as Andrew.  I'm not a total beginner (well, okay, VB and beginner Java may not count too much) but would be a student of this tutorial.  At the same time, I could help teach if I already know the subject.

I have a sizable project that is in no rush and can be in prototype for a while.  D is perfect for DbC and UnitTests as well as easy string manipulation and GC, and yet is compiled natively, a requirement.

> 
>    - The communications and examples could be a start for larger D tutorial.
>      Maybe Justin's "very short D tutorial" http://jcc_7.tripod.com/d/ could be enlarged
>      or the material at least gathered in the Wiki4D, or later in Benji's repository.
> 

The communications and examples would be a tremendous resource for people encountering the same issues as this initial group.  Making them accessible via a good search tool is key.

>    - The experiences in teaching D could also give valuable information for the standard
>      library development. 

I'm sure we'll uncover some of the biggest needs, and possibly start a priority list.

So, sign me up, and let me know how I can help plan the course...

"Helmut Leitner" <leitner@hls.via.at> wrote...
>    - Let's do a "Tutorial D Course" for a period of about 3 months,
>      starting about Nov 7, 2003. This gives us time to plan it.
>
>    - The course can happen when at least 3 people attend it
>      (there's a maximum of 8, Andrew has a reservation if he wants)

Opportunities like these don't come my way very often. Sign me up please, for I'm in no position to refuse such a generous offer.

> -- 
> Helmut Leitner    leitner@hls.via.at
> Graz, Austria   www.hls-software.com

Thanks a million,

Andrew

Helmut Leitner wrote:
> Recently Andrew Edwards posted ein translation of the Mercenne Twister pseudo random generator. During private discussion it showed that he is a 30-year old beginning programmer
> who really wants to get his hands dirty (only few do), but doesn't know how to go about it.
> 
> While I would like to help him, it's too inefficient to do this privatly.
> 
> But done in the public this could offer a number of synergies:
> 
>    - There might be others, who want to learn or who want to tutor. 
> 
>    - The communications and examples could be a start for larger D tutorial.
>      Maybe Justin's "very short D tutorial" http://jcc_7.tripod.com/d/ could be enlarged
>      or the material at least gathered in the Wiki4D, or later in Benji's repository.
There's another D tutorial at http://www.dprogramming.com/tutorial.php. (I added this to http://www.wikiservice.at/d/wiki.cgi?D__Tutorial.)

> 
>    - The experiences in teaching D could also give valuable information for the standard
>      library development. 
> 
> A lot of people here think that D is a good language, not only for programming veterans,
> but also for newcomers. Maybe we can prove this?
I agree.  At my alma mater, the Computer Science 101 class learned using Java (I think they used Pascal until a few years ago).  The engineers are required to learn FORTRAN (yuck!).  In my opinion, once a textbook is written, D would be as good of a "first language" as anything.

Justin

Just for information I report this private communication regarding a generous offering of sample programs by Jeandré du Toit:

> >Jeandré du Toit wrote:
> > >
> > > I am busy writing small programs that could be useful for tutorials. Let me know where I can help.
> > >
> > > Jeandre
> >

....

> >Jeandré,
> >
> >thank you for your offer to help. I'll mail you as soon as the project is sure to start.
> >
> >May I post our little communication to the newsgroup so that the community notices this response?

....

> 
> Thanks, please do. I ment to submit to the newsgroup, I was wondering why my post never got displayed ;)
> 
> Cheers
> Jeandre
> 

I'll also post a summary of the current state of the project about mid-October.

-- 
Helmut Leitner    leitner@hls.via.at
Graz, Austria   www.hls-software.com

Helmut Leitner wrote:
>>>Jeandré du Toit wrote:
>>>
>>>>I am busy writing small programs that could be useful for tutorials. Let me
>>>>know where I can help.
...
>>>Jeandré,
>>>
>>>thank you for your offer to help. I'll mail you as soon as the project is
>>>sure to start.
>>>
...
> 
> I'll also post a summary of the current state of the project about mid-October.

Helmut,

You or anyone else is welcome to use, modify, expand, quote, misquote, or plagarize my tutorial pages (http://jcc_7.tripod.com/d/tutor/) if it helps the course.  I also have uploaded some assorted examples at http://jcc_7.tripod.com/d/ that you are free to use.

I'd also like to follow the communication of the tutorial course.  I don't think I have the time to commit to be a full-time teacher (or maybe I should be a student?), but I may be able to offer assistance from time to time.

Justin