I want them to code in Linux. Do what you have to do.
Undergraduate Numerical Analysis Prof, my advisor, my sensei
All right. I'll see what I can do.
Sysadmin log, day 3
So today I gave my first tutorial to the numerical analysis kids on
how to code in GNU/Linux. Some of them are uneasy. Others are
curious. At least one of them is downright terrified.
This is extremely exciting for me. This is it. This is what I have
been training for for so long, almost since I came to CIMAT and my
free software views became so adamant. This is where we see if
bright kids, mathematics majors, kids who already know how to code in
C, certainly not your average n00b, the very academic kids for which
Linux and all of Unix in general was originally made for; this is
where we see if they can actually handle it or if the penguin and and
the wildebeest are going to go out in a blaze of glory.
Ah, I can feel the excitement.
I have always held a few beliefs, and now is the time to test them.
- It's a pleasure to be a Linux user if you have a good
sysadmin.
- It can be uncomfortable at first. But later on it can be
uncomfortable to leave it.
I have decided to be the absolute best sysadmin that I can be for
these kids. I spent many days and sleepless nights lovingly
handpicking for them each package from the Debian repositories in
order to ease their transition into wild and unfamiliar operating
systems. At first, I decided to show them the pretty: Beryl (or
Compiz Fusion, as it's come to be called). Wobbly windows. Quadruple
desktop on a rotating cube. Transparency. Exposé effects. Just a taste
of what it can be like.
I set up a net for them. I want to show them what a real multi-user
system looks like, the flexiblity, what it's like to flow throw the
ssh tunnels, the miracle of X-forwarding. I want
to show them the marvels of free software. The value of privacy, of
being able to do absolutely whatever kind of mess on your own desktop,
and have it your own. These may be mundane concepts for them, but
they're already loving the idea of it.
Today I showed them bash. That took about 30 minutes. I could have
gone on for hours. But all I wanted to show them was how to move
around through the filesystem with it and how to execute
programs. Show them tab-completion. Remarked that although it's quite
possible to use graphical tools to accomplish the same and never use
bash, that with practice it becomes so much faster to use
ten fingers to communicate with a computer than a measly index
finger and a wrist.
And too much wrist motion causes strain. Let's not forget this. This
is why it's important to know about Emacs and vim. Not fall into
wedlock with either one of them, not just
yet, just know about them. The two great editorial philosophical
currents. They're both important. I told them, work through both their
tutorials. Try one of them out for a week. If within a week neither
one of them suits you, that's fine. I will allow you to use any other
editor you please; Kate if it so must be. But you must be allowed a
chance to give your wrists a rest.
I'm very nervous. I don't know if this will work out. I'm also very
excited. The stakes are very high. Will they love it or hate it? Will
their use of Linux survive beyond this course?
No more speculation if "Linux is ready for the desktop" or not. No
more musings about what free software in education could be like or
not. No more theory. It's all practice from now on. It could fail. I
could fail them. But it could also be the start of a beautiful friendship.