Home
Science
Technology
Engineering
Art
Math

About

Mark Guzdial, Georgia Tech - College of Computing, posted his thoughts on why we should teach computer science. Here is an excerpt from that blog post.

"... Computer Science is a science like all the others. We teach Chemistry to students because they live in a world with chemical interactions. We teach Biology because they live in a world full of living things. We teach Physics because they live in a physical world. We should teach Computer Science because they live in a digital world."

Mark Guzdial
Georgia Tech - College of Computing

That's it! We live in a digital world. For most of us, the web is our digital world. Everyone can learn to write code for it. It is useful knowledge. It doesn't mean a career in computer science, but rather a better understanding of our digital world.

Coding the web is the best place to start learning about computer science. The web is here to stay. Web standards are created by a consortium - the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The W3C creates the standards so that all web browsers process web code the same. So when you write your code, it should work the same in all browsers.

HTML and SVG, are both markup languages whose specifications are maintained by the W3C. HTML is similar to formatting text in a document with headings, paragraphs, etc. SVG is a vector image format, drawing circles, rectangles, etc. The markup languages have a very similar syntax. Both support Javascript, the programming language of the web.

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is a fun way to learn to code because graphics encourages creativity. (A picture is worth 1000 words.) Students get excited when they create the images. Learning to code has to be fun!

STEAMcoded.org has lessons in coding SVG and examples of SVG applications in STEM related fields. This website provides free STEAM resources for teachers and students learning to code.

About Jay Nick
Jay is a retired electrical engineer and volunteers teaching students to code.

In his career, he was responsible for the computers used in the 24/7 control center of an electric and gas utility. After installing a new Energy Management computer system, he analyzed memory dumps of computer crashes, finding the cause and reprogramming a fix in assembly language.

Within in a few years, the computer system struggled to handle the growing requirements. After installing a high speed link to a network of PCs, the computer applications were rewritten to run on a PCs, eventually retiring the Energy Management System.

Jay had moved to another area of the company when the World Wide Web came along. He started linking real-time data to HTML pages. He discovered SVG in 2000 before it was approved as a W3C standard. He has worked with it ever since.

After discovering SVG, Jay immediately started linking real-time data to SVG graphics. He put examples on the internet demonstrating how he used it. Those early works were used in seminars throughout the world as speakers were introducing the capability of SVG to attendees in 2001 and 2002.

Jay handcodes his SVG images because linking real-time data requires a good understanding of the code. SVG code from drawing programs was too bloated and couldn't link to real-time data - and still can't - though some have tried. Many competing technologies are no longer supported, but SVG as a web standard, continues to evolve.

Jay is an active contributor to openclipart.org where all images are SVG and in the public domain. He likes taking images from the site and optimizing the code for reuse or animation. This hobby has allowed him to become quite knowledgeable in hand coding SVG.

He used his knowledge of web technologies to create eBooks authored by his wife, Barbara, as well as his own eBooks on SVG. He likes to try new things like programming Firefox add-ons and using the web for the internet of things on platforms like the Raspberry Pi.

Jay and his wife, Barbara, have six children and 13 grandchildren. Jay likes to work with his grandchildren teaching them to code with SVG.