Learning Computing on Kind of Idea

A Brief History of the Internet

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

A Brief History of the Internet by Walt Howe
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-
Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at www.walthowe.com.

The modern Internet, as we use it today and based on the TCP/IP protocol, turned 30 on January 1, 2013. In 1981, DARPA began testing the protocol to connect its networks. On January 1, 1983, the lab’s 400 servers, which were based on the NCP protocol, were shut down and the system migrated to TCP/IP, giving rise to today’s Internet. To mark this historic date, I translated this short text, which tells the story of the Internet in an accessible way and focuses not only on the technology but also on the people involved. You can find the original text by Walt Howe here. Here is the translation.

The First Robot (translation)

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The original text was written by Dan Wohlbruck and can be found here.

It happened in September 1928

Dan Wohlbruck adds to his “When Did This Happen?” series of essays about the first human-looking robot. He reports, surprisingly, that “Eric was a simple and successful substitute for the Duke of York.”

On September 20, 1928, Eric, the first human-looking robot, opened the Society of Model Engineers Exhibition in London. Captain William Richards, a journalist and World War I veteran, and A. H. Reffell, an engineer, were the inventors. Captain Richards was inspired to build Eric when the Duke of York, who had been invited to open the exhibition, was unable to attend the ceremony. Eric’s presentation is described on the cyberneticzoo.com website as follows:

Tips for Computer Classes - The Question Game

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Whenever I can, I try to move away from the traditional teaching format (teacher talks - student listens). As I teach, I keep improving ideas and techniques that I’d like to share with you in this post. One way to get away from the traditional format is to introduce a game or activity that lets students “navigate” the material indirectly, preferably in a fun way.

I’m going to talk about an activity called the Question Game.

Let's Study Computing!

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

If you’re a beginner, welcome to the world of computing! In this text you’ll find useful information, presented in an educational way, to help you understand the characteristics of the world of computing in a short time.

If you’re a veteran, enthusiast, or already work in the field, this text can serve as a reference when preparing lessons for introductory courses in computing.

The purpose of this text is to give an overview of computing through a mind map, supplemented with links organized according to the map’s structure. This text will be updated with new links based on suggestions in the comments or when I find interesting links to share.

The Beginning of the Digital Age (Translation)

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

When we become aware of the sweat, dreams, persistence, and enthusiasm of the people who began our digital age, all the effort of learning zeros and ones and the entire universe created from them begins to make sense; it becomes more human, closer to each of us. That’s why I decided to translate this text, written by science historian George Dyson for Make magazine. I thank George Dyson and Mark Fraunfelder, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, for kindly allowing me to translate and publish the text in Portuguese on this blog. They were very attentive and kind. You can find the original English text at this link. Now, here’s the article:

Playing with Binary Numbers

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000

In this post, I suggest a fun activity to help the class relax and interact with the material being covered.

The idea is to simulate a binary counter. A binary counter is a machine (like a computer) that counts in binary (0 and 1). A group of people can become a binary counter, which is a good way to see how the number system works.

Call up 5 volunteers and ask them to stand in a line, with everyone’s right arm held horizontally and each hand touching the shoulder of the person beside them. The last person is the units digit and has to do most of the work. They are at the left end of the line (though it looks like the right, since we are facing them). The person at the other end hardly does anything, just offering a shoulder! There are only two rules.