From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Feb 7 11:58:23 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6AD0F16A419 for ; Thu, 7 Feb 2008 11:58:23 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from uq@clix.pt) Received: from mailrly02.isp.novis.pt (mailrly02.isp.novis.pt [195.23.133.212]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B608C13C44B for ; Thu, 7 Feb 2008 11:58:22 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from uq@clix.pt) Received: (qmail 31082 invoked from network); 7 Feb 2008 11:31:40 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO mailfrt02.isp.novis.pt) ([195.23.133.194]) (envelope-sender ) by mailrly02.isp.novis.pt with compressed SMTP; 7 Feb 2008 11:31:40 -0000 Received: (qmail 31076 invoked from network); 7 Feb 2008 11:31:40 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO cigarra.isp.ip.pt) ([195.23.131.149]) (envelope-sender ) by mailfrt02.isp.novis.pt with SMTP; 7 Feb 2008 11:31:40 -0000 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable From: To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:31:30 +0000 Message-Id: <47380.1202383890@clix.pt> X-Mailer: 62.28.61.82 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: Subject: Three wishes of a wannabe developer X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:58:23 -0000 Hello, I have been looking for some summer chool type crash course in C and/or = programming tools and have found that there are several interesting activit= ies and gatherings for developers. However, I am not (yet) a developer. I n= eed something for beginners. I am not sure that the Chemnitz linuxtag= e 2008 is for me, for it definately looks as if it is for experienced = programmers. Is there a place for beginner wannabe hackers who want a crash= -course in C, perl, glade or other programmming tools? Born to computers for MS-DOS (and, to a lesser extent, to VAX-VMS) , in = the early nineties, I have been phasing out Windows and using FreeBSD (and = others) for some time now. I have programmed with PASCAL in school (go gues= s why they thing it's pedagogic) and gw-BASIC after that. That was over 10 = years ago. Quite naturally, when I read about new developing tools like gla= de or dreamweaver I simply don't get the concept. I'm lost. As we Portugues= e say it, =C2=ABlike a donkey looking at a palace=C2=BB. The free software community offers lots of programs and projects in many= areas but there are others where freesoftware isn't yet present. That is t= he case of economics. In the logic of freesoftware I want make programs to = fill that vacuum. Well, some of it. What I want to do are economic model ba= sed simulators. I could do it in a spreadsheet, but I would rather make a n= ice application and make it available for everyone. For that, both competen= cies in the economics and computing areas are necessary. That brings me to = my three (free) wishes: 1. I wish there were free software programming crash courses for beginners= (beginners in programming) in every free software community event and gath= eting, providing and entry route for those who want to contribute for the a= vailability of free software in all areas of thought and all ciences and al= l activities and not just be passive users. It could be just at free softwa= re events or in association with universities through summer schools, for e= xample. 2. I wish there was a place where I could meet more people in my academic = and professional area who may also be interested in doing things and making= things happen. Diversity is important. 3. I wish there was a place for mentoring from programmers and experienced= free software people. Please notice that I am not demanding, I am willing to contribute to all= of my wishes. If You can help me or know someone that could help me let me know. Thanks, Rui Duarte in Portugal _________________________________________________________________ =