On Sidewalks

Topics of conversation included:

• Crafty Js and Game Closure
• ORM and the terror of writing raw SQL queries
• Shame and Git
• Sidewalks* and Agile Education
• Non-English programming languages
• Codecademy and the incredible speed of informal education reform
• The changing criteria of employment selection (HT +Chris Zietlow )
• D3.js and websockets and JQuery
• The LOGO interpreter
• Javascript libraries and JSDB (HT +Chris Harrison)
• Markov Chains
• Flask the Python micro framework
• Drupal and content management systems
• Raphael (javascript animations)

*On the way to the Clubhouse we passed someone walking down the side of Riverwatch parkway. There's no sidewalk there, and despite the fact that walking down the side of a road with no sidewalk is totally legal and allowed, I know what that guy must've felt like, I know the feeling of being out of place. A sidewalk is a piece of architecture that says "you belong here. You have permission. This can be your place" 

The Dev Club is a cultural sidewalk.

The Clubhouse is a piece of architecture that says, "Hey, I know that at work, you don't want to say that you don't know what a decorator method is or in class that you don't know what a matrix is really supposed to represent. I know that it's hard to say I'm lost. I know." say the sidewalks, "and it's going to be okay. There's no rush. There's no pressure. We can learn this stuff together. This can be your place."