Seth Battis's Public Library

Every developer should already know about many of the benefits of writing good documentation for the future developers of whatever it is that they’re working on.

The documentation helps these future developers gain a real understanding of how the code works, why it does what it does, and prevents them from introducing new bugs in the future. A good overview of the inner workings of a program could save a developer hours of work attempting to figure out just how all of the pieces fit together. And even if you don’t think that anyone other than you will ever be looking at the code ever again, a good overview could certainly serve as an excellent refresher for you in the future, if you ever have to refer to the code again.

However, there’s one key benefit of writing this developer-focused documentation that I feel is often underplayed. Writing this documentation will help you find little bugs that would have otherwise been missed.

programming development student reference documentation comment code debug tool

blender model inspiration student archive time lapse video rig timelapse

The 11 Second Club is a monthly character animation competition open to everyone! Join our 103085 members and participate in the forums to get feedback on your work.

Download this month's audio file and animate a character speaking the line to enter the contest.

Winners receive an AnimationMentor.com eCritique® from a professional animator!

animation short film inspiration student competition archive

animation short film archive inspiration student

A pair of rare Enigma machines used in the Spanish Civil War has been given to the head of GCHQ, Britain's communications intelligence agency. The machines - only recently discovered in Spain - fill in a missing chapter in the history of British code-breaking, paving the way for crucial successes in World War II.

enigma machine computer science cryptography Spain code civil war history

Are you concerned about bad language at school?

A New York Times article last fall exposed some bad language at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, a liberal New York City private school.

Barry Sirmon, a "popular but controversial" history teacher, directed what turned out to be a very controversial joke at two black students on the first day of class. By Sirmon's admission, the gist of the joke was "I hope I'll be able to tell you two apart." Sirmon later said that he was "making jokes to try and make people comfortable." It was foolish of him not to realize that this particular joke might have the opposite effect.

What would have been a wise administrative response to this foolishness?

language school education clarity forthrightness usage

The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) illustrates how teachers can use technology to enhance learning for K-12 students. The TIM incorporates five interdependent characteristics of meaningful learning environments: active, constructive, goal directed (i.e., reflective), authentic, and collaborative (Jonassen, Howland, Moore, & Marra, 2003). The TIM associates five levels of technology integration (i.e., entry, adoption, adaptation, infusion, and transformation) with each of the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments. Together, the five levels of technology integration and the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments create a matrix of 25 cells as illustrated below.

technology integration matrix reference standard

I was involved pretty closely in development of the Germantown Friends School website, which launched last fall to much fanfare and excitement. As a Quaker School, they take their decision-making seriously and respect a consensus-driven approach, which to some can equate to slow progress, but to me wound up equating to a refreshing, steady and deliberate forward motion. In order to advance an effort at a big school like theirs with this layer of overhead you need to document, agree on what it says, and collectively move forward. It forces clarity and, interestingly enough, simplicity, a Quaker Testimony.

Recently they shared with me the attached document, spelling out in nice detail just how their website would be managed, the roles they have and what that means. They are in the process of implementing it and setting it all up, but they defined these four groups of people responsible:

Website Editorial Board: those who help forward the vision
Website Committee: the group evaluating design, architecture, and functionality
Website Stewards: a content owner responsible for section(s) of the site
Editors: three types of people who create and change content
Site Editors
Content Editors
Contributors

GFS website management protocol

Google app iPad tutorial

recipe food potato greens mark bittman minimalist

I have this affliction or maybe you could call it a fixation with latkes. And I know you’re probably thinking, potato pancakes? With shredded onion? They’re good, but are they really worth obsessing over? But you’d be using the literal definition of latkes and to me, latkes are not so much a singular recipe with a finite ingredient list but an approach to pancakes; an approach that could include anything that can be shredded and fried. And oh, when you start from this vantage point, they most certainly will.

recipe food latke parsnip horseradish

"What is the best comment in source code you have ever encountered?"

programming development documentation humor comment

"Did I Miss Anything?

Tom Wayman
From: The Astonishing Weight of the Dead. Vancouver: Polestar, 1994.

Question frequently asked by
students after missing a class

Nothing. When we realized you weren't here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours

Everything. I gave an exam worth
40 per cent of the grade for this term
and assigned some reading due today
on which I'm about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 per cent"

poem education teaching humor

"digital-footprintThe goal of this lesson is to give students awareness of what it means to have a digital footprint. "

digital footprint internet safety education online lesson plan via ISED-L

"Improve your Blender 3D workflow when using your laptop or laptop style keyboards without a numeric keypad!

We are using Blender 3D extensively for our projecs, but always missed useful shortcuts, most commonly mapped to keypad: camera and view control, zooming and focusing. You can use your laptop's emulated keypad, but who likes to loose half of their alpha character keys for that?

Blender KeyPad is a remote control companion utility for Blender that gives you back those missing shortcuts without sacrificing anything. Also, get a full numeric keypad as a free bonus!

Features:
• Blender-specific keypad with camera and view control shortcuts
• Generic numeric keyboard
• Supports upside-down orientation for easier power cable arrangement
• Easy configuration - automatically discovers your Mac and other Bonjour enabled computers when connected to the same network
• Retina display and multitasking support"

blender.org iPhone iOS keypad app free

"In Project Based Learning (PBL), students go through an extended process of inquiry in response to a complex question, problem, or challenge. Rigorous projects help students learn key academic content and practice 21st Century Skills (such as collaboration, communication & critical thinking). "

PBL (Project-Based Learning) project learning resource archive education

"Your students explore their world with an expectation of choice and control that redefines traditional notions of learning and literacy. Increasingly educators are discovering that they can motivate students with a PBL approach that engages their students with the opportunity to think like STEM professionals while solving real-world problems.

This pre-conference will use an interactive approach that lets participants experience the why, what, and how of PBL in the STEM curriculum. This workshop promises to be rigorous and relevant for K-16 teachers. They'll leave with many instructional strategies ready for use in their classrooms and insights into - what is PBL, how to get started, how to manage and share projects, best practice for reflection/assessment and free online resources."

PBL (Project-Based Learning) learning project STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) science technology engineering mathematics conference resource

Teachers, do you...
Not have enough time for grading?
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Need a free solution to help?

If so, then Flubaroo can help!
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Designed by a teacher, for other teachers!

Google doc form script quiz assessment multiple choice grade automatic

When the hostname is determined automatically, the OS steps through this list of possibilities and goes with the first valid name found:

The name provided by the DHCP or BootP server for the primary IP address
The first name returned by a reverse DNS (address-to-name) query for the primary IP address
The local hostname (set in the Sharing pane of System Preferences)
The name localhost

DDNS (Dynamic DNS) Mac OS X DHCP hostname

Hair used to be something I really hated having to do in CG, and to this day you’ll see more than a fair share of baldies amongst my works. However with more and more updates to blenders hair tools, it ‘s getting easier (and even fun!) to create characters and creatures with hair. This tutorial/guide covers working with hair particles in blender, including particle systems, combing/cutting/styling hair, and using the child particle settings.

Blender 2.57 hair model 3-D render animate