Director's Newsletter: Issue #1
CONCEPTS THIS WEEK @ ULTIMATE CODERS
(Director's Newsletter, Issue #1)
Greetings from the new Centre Director!
Parents and Students, explore the many hyperlinks provided in this document to go deeper in your learning!
We touched on all the concepts below with at least one student this week in our intensive afternoon camps and evening drop-in programs!
REGISTRATION LINKS
REGISTER HERE FOR AFTERNOON CAMP STARTING AT 1PM ON JULY 15TH:
https://ultimatecoders.com/camp-halfday-checkout
REGISTER HERE FOR OUR EVENING/SATURDAY DROP-IN PROGRAM:
https://ultimatecoders.com/regular-classes-checkout
CONCEPTS THIS WEEK
TEST-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT
Here at Ultimate Coders, Discovery Learning meets Test-Driven Development in The Scientific Method -- to run a tightly controlled software experiment you must control most 'variables' by holding most of the code constant -- you make one change and test.
In this paradigm we have:
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE: The one change you make to the code before running it again...
DEPENDENT VARIABLE: The behavior of the code you try to predict before you run the test -- this tests not only the code, but also your understanding of what it will do!
While every line of code is 'variable' in that you can change it to vary its contents, in testing, we hold all lines constant except the line we are testing!
This form of testing is akin to 'MODDING'!
ULTIMATE CODE CHRONOLOGY
2600BC: THE ROYAL GAME OF UR
DIRECTOR'S CHALLEGE: This game is so old the rules are lost! Can you develop some?
1300BC: THREE-IN-A-ROW GAME BOARDS
548BC: FIRST MENTION OF THE GAME OF GO
384BC-322BC: ARISTOTLE AND THE SYLLOGISM
LOGICOLA EXERCISES B (F) AND B (E)
206BC-220CE: THE HAN DYNASTY AND "ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS"
3BC: STOIC LOGIC
7th CENTURY CE: EARLY VERSIONS OF CHESS
16h CENTURY CE: LANGUAGE OF 'ODDS'
LOGIOLA EXERCISE P (O)
1815CE-1864CE: GEORGE BOOLE & BOOLEAN VARIABLES
The simplest example you saw of BOOLEANS was the diamond blocks in scratch.
1834CE-1923CE: JOHN VENN AND THE VENN DIAGRAM
LOGICOLA EXERCISES B (C)
VENN'S DIAGRAMS USED TO ANALYZE ARISTOTLE'S SYLLOGISMS
1858CE: NOUGHTS AND CROSSES (MODERN TIC-TAC-TOE)
1883CE: TRUTH TABLES
LOGICOLA EXERCISE D (TE)
1940CE: NIMATRON
1947CE: GEOFF HINTON
CENTRE DIRECTOR ADAM GOLDING'S PROFESSOR @ UOFT
GEORGE BOOLE'S GREAT GRANDSON
CALLED "THE GODFATHER OF AI"
THEREFORE, GEORGE BOOLE IS THE GREAT-GRAND-GODFATHER OF AI!
1958CE: LISP
ONE OF THE MAIN TWO 'AI LANGUAGES' IN THE EARLY DAYS
1950CE: BERTIE THE BRAIN (TORONTO!)
DIRECTOR'S CHALLENGE: DEVELOP A RUDIMENTARY AI FOR TIC-TAC-TOE
1972CE: PROLOG
ONE OF THE MAIN TWO 'AI LANGUAGES' IN THE EARLY DAYS
DOING YOUR LOGICOLA EXERCISES 'UNLOCKS' THIS LANGUAGE
1988CE: MATHEMATICA
1991CE: PYTHON
1993CE: HTML
DIRECTOR'S CHALLENGE: PUBLISH A PARAGRAPH OF HTML USING GITHUB PAGES
1995CE: DR RACKET (MODERN LISP)
1995CE: JAVASCRIPT
1996CE: JAVA 1.0
1996CE: DEEP BLUE DEFEATS KASPAROV
1996CE: GOOGLE
1997CE: LOGICOLA
2001CE: PROCESSING
2007CE: SCRATCH
DIRECTOR'S CHALLENGE: DO YOU UNDERSTAND EVERY CARD IN THE TUTORIAL DECK? CAN YOU MIX-AND-MATCH CARDS FROM DIFFERENT TUTORIALS?
EVEN FOR ADVANCED PROGRAMMERS WHO KNOW MANY LANGUAGES, THERE IS NO SHAME IN USING SCRATCH, WHEN APPROPRIATE, FOR SO-CALLED 'RAPID PROTOTYPING'!
2009CE: MATHEMATICA
2010CE: PICTURING PROGRAMS
THIS BOOK TEACHES MODERN LISP (RACKET) USING PICTURES INSTEAD OF NUMBERS!!
2010CE: PROCESSING.PY
NOTA BENAE: LEARN P5.JS BEFORE PROCESSING.PY
2013CE: P5.JS
THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO LEARN JAVASCRIPT
2015CE: ALPHA GO DEFEATS FAN HUI
2022CE: CHATGPT
ASSUME CHATGPT GENERATES INCORRECT CODE -- How do you test it?
TECH NEWS
Stay up-to-date with tech news by visiting slashdot.org, especially yro.slashdot.org!
('YRO' is short for 'YOUR RIGHTS ONLINE' -- what could matter more!?)
Also familiarize yourself with THE SLASHDOT EFFECT... !
How does it compare to THE STREISAND EFFECT???
COMPETITIVE VS COOPERATIVE GAMES
P VERSUS Q is the simplest possible 2-player, real-time, zero-sum game, developed by Director Adam Golding!
First, hold a local tournament to get a feel for the game!
DIRECTOR'S CHALLENGE [OPEN PROBLEM]: What is the smallest change you can make to P VERSUS Q to make it into a COOPERATIVE game?
WARNING: NO STUDENT HAS SOLVED THIS YET, INCLUDING YOUR TEACHER!!! THIS IS WHAT IS KNOWN AS AN OPEN PROBLEM!!!
HINT: MAYBE THERE IS NO UNIQUE SMALLEST CHANGE, BUT SEVERAL POSSIBILE CHANGES OF THE 'SAME SIZE'
NOTE: 'P VERSUS Q' is like a real-time rock-paper-scissors with only two moves instead of three!
Did you know that Toronto has sometimes won the world championship in ROCK PAPER SCISSORS? Who knew! Look it up!
TEXT FROM LAST TIME
As we wrap up week one of our new intensive summer afternoon camps, we are ready to enroll more students for Monday and push everyone to the next level!
To register for this week's camp, please fill out this form:
https://ultimatecoders.com/camp-halfday-checkout
This is for 1pm-4pm, July 15th-July 19th at our Toronto location, 406 Pacific Ave -- students should bring a snack to tide themselves over between lunch and dinner :-)
Feel free to invite your friends!
You will know if you are already registered if you have an email receipt.
As usual, our drop-in program is always available Mondays-Thursdays 4pm-8pm and Saturdays 11am-3pm, for which families can register here:
https://ultimatecoders.com/regular-classes-checkout
Cheers,
Adam Golding, Centre Director
ultimatecoders.com
PS while I have your attention, here is a sneak-preview of the new expanded curriculum I am developing in my new role as Centre Director -- this curriculum is focused on providing the minimum path to beginning a comprehensive understanding of Artificial Intelligence:
FROM THE TEAM:
Our summer camp will provide intensive, fun, and educational coding experiences that will keep your child engaged and learning throughout the summer. We will resume our regular classes in September, so your child's learning journey with Ultimate Coders will continue seamlessly.
This offer ensures that your children continue to benefit from our programs, and it’s our way of saying thank you for being a part of the Ultimate Coders family. It’s a win-win-win for everyone!
We look forward to a fantastic summer filled with coding adventures!
Best regards,
The Ultimate Coders Team
