Hi, does anyone know of any resources for teaching a short unit of a larger DH course on programming for graduate students? I'd like students to have basic skills in HTML/CSS/Python - but maybe that's asking too much. Any strategies?
Resources/Strategies for teaching coding or programming to grad students?
(4 posts) (4 voices)-
Posted 4 years ago Permalink
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Perhaps The Programming Historian would be of help?
If you care to go the TEI route at all, TEI By Example is pretty fabulous.
For HTML, have a look at Dive Into HTML5 and see if it floats your boat. If not, w3schools may be closer to what you need.
Posted 4 years ago Permalink -
I'm curious about the choice of Python, actually. Any particular reason for choosing it?
If not, I'd actually suggest Javascript instead. That way people can look at HTML/CSS/Javascript right in their browser with firebug or whatever in-browser tool is there. I also like Javascript because it is easy to do direct, kinda fun, manipulations of a web page, especially if you modify Greasemonkey scripts.
The upshot strategy is that JS lets students get higher payback for their learning more quickly.
HTH
Posted 4 years ago Permalink -
Wayne Graham
MemberBest AnswerThis is actually a problem we have been wrestling with, and one of the inspirations of the Praxis Program we started here at UVa. The approach is really to teach how to management and implement a digital humanities project from the ground up, including the programming, budget management, and implementation aspects of a code.
The way we've approached the programming is to teach how to think like a developer; our examples are in Ruby, but we could have just as easily done them in PHP, JavaScript, Python, or even C... We've focused a lot of attention on recognizing when to use particular coding principals (flow-control, looping, etc.), and a lot of muscle memory (e.g. exercises).
For teaching Python, Zed Shaw's Learn Python the Hard Way is a good resource (actually all of the Learn Code the Hard Way series is pretty good). I have also seen a lot of new developers respond well to the various Koans out there (e.g. Python Koans).
I'll throw in a few other really good (and free) resources we've used in this program too:
* Eloquent JavaScript
* Git for Dummies
* Git - the simple guide
* Getting Started with HTML
* Learning CSS: Cascading Style Sheets articles and tutorials
* Responsive Web DesignDepending on what you're wanting to do, it may also be beneficial to use something like R to teach programming. This may look scarier (it is for quantitative analysis), but it does provide many of the same controls and approaches used in other realms of development, but within a limited domain.
HTH,
WaynePosted 4 years ago Permalink
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