Hello!
With so many kids home now, seems like the perfect time kick something off.
But I wanted to bounce the idea off folks. Does it already exist? Would you be able to participate?
I envision a directory listing hour by hour who is moderating the hour and tagging any specializations (#Python, #Repl.it, #Arduino, etc.), but with the understanding that all general tech support is provided, even if only to steer questions towards the right resource on the web. Same IRC etiquette rules would apply. Sample interactions:
kid: How do I get python installed on my dad's laptop:
kid: I'm stuck on this line of code [then pastes in 50 lines of code]
moderator: Hi @kid ah cool, Ill try to point you in the right direction, but first lemme introduce you to
https://dpaste.org/
Fenced code blocks in Markdown get syntax-highlighted with many systems:
```python
import this
# etc
```
Pull Request reviews support line-by-line commenting and optional revision right granting:
GitHub Classroom runs CI tests for student assignments:
Notebooks on Colab can be shared as editable and support comments
Notebooks on CoCalc have a (collaborative) time slider replay, chat, course assignments, nbgrader, …
kid: How do I [whatever]?
moderator: Hi @kid! I dunno, but I've been doing this for 20 years and have yet to encounter a problem someone else didn't solve. Lemme help you research it a little. Let's start with [StackOverflow, PyVideo, Google, ReadTheDocs, DjangoPackages, PyPi, etc]
Phrasing the question for search is maybe the most useful skill for learning and professionally doing programming:
- find the docs and bookmark them
- find the source and bookmark it
- list every possible word for the thing you're describing
- try adding "double quotes" around certain terms and error messages
- exclude with minus: -"this or that"
Bottom line is just to keep younger coders from giving up, by giving them an introduction to how vast and awesome this community is. This would not be just another coding site and not open-ended tech support, but rather a chat-based gateway to what's already out there.
Asynchronous and logged scales.
Well-designed tutorials don't require much searching for answers from people on the interwebs.