Learn Python the Hardway : The work flow

Really, I want to say; I hate python programming. But, when I said something bad, the bad will come to me again and again. So, let's to to stop it. Python is interpreter language or scripted language. It doesn't need to compile like C or C++. It seems the easiest (programming) language to learn. How to learn it? How to master it? what is the hard way to learn as fast as possible? Here the work flow:

Tutorial:

1. Do all exercise in Learn Python The Hardway by hand (type, not copy paste), from Exercise 1 to Exercise 39.
2. Solve the Project Euler Problem, Problem number 1, 2, 3, 14, 17, 57, 79 and 102 with Python.
3. Learn the basic concept of python and advanced it with python object oriented programming. 
4. Learn Tutorial-python.
5. Learn from software carpentry python lesson.

Free online MOOC (interactive coding, RECOMMENDED):

1. Datacamp's intro to Python for Data Science
2. EdX Intro to Python for Data Science (Connected to DataCamp)
3. EdX introdution to Programming Using Python
4. MITx 6.00.1x Introduction to Computer Science and Prorgramming Using Python
5. EdX Using Python for Research

That's all, do it. You'll master the python on the hard way method. That is one of the most important thing that I got from the workshop of scientific computing.

Belajar Pemrograman: Dari C ke C++

Belajar pemrograman menjadi hal-hal yang susah-susah sulit, terutama untuk para mahasiswa baru, yang baru meninggalkan SMA dan menginjak bangku perkuliahan. Saya pernah mengalaminya.

Alih-alih menggunakan bahasa pemrograman C++ yang sudah object-oriented (Saya menggunakan C++ saat awal kuliah), ada baiknya kita memulai dari bahasa C, bahasa pemrograman struktural/prosedural yang universal, mudah dipahami, setelah itu kita tingkatkan step-by-step ke bahasa C++. Meskipun ada yang mengatakan bahasa C dan C++ itu sangat berbeda secara konseptual, namun secara teknis hampir sama karena C++ diturunkan (dikembangkan) dari C++.

Slide-slide berikut merupakan bahan ajar kuliah pemrograman komputer yang saya buat untuk mahasiswa D3 Metrologi Instrumentasi sekaligus S1 Teknik Fisika. Pada awal perkuliah saya menggunakan bahasa C untuk memperkenalkan konsep pemrograman dan algoritma melalui flowchart. Setelah memahami bahasa prosedural, mahasiswa kami bawa ke konsep OOP (object oriented programming) yang diimplementasikan dengan C++. Harapannya, mahasiswa tidak hanya memahapi konsep OOP pada C++ saja, namun dapat diaplikasikan pada bahasa pemrograman lain, semisal Java.

I am Certified!

Ini adalah sertifikat ke-4 yang saya peroleh dari belajar online dengan metode MOOC (massive open online learning) setelah kursus bahasa inggris: Writing II: Rhetorical Composing, Internet History, Technology, and Security dan ColWri2.1x Principles of Written English. Sebagai seorang newbie atau beginner dalam menggunakan OS *Nix, kursus online LFS101x Introduction to Linux ini bisa dibilang gampang-gampang susah. Gampang karena materi tesnya lumayan gampang, susah karena ada banyak materi yang harus dipelajari.

Disini saya akan berbagi pengalaman saat mengikuti kursus ini hingga mendapatkan sertifikat seperti di bawah ini,

Screenshot dari Honor code yang saya terima

1. Baca semua bab-nya (ada 18 Bab untuk LFS, baca dan pelajari semua)
2. Kerjakan semua latihan
3. Perhatikan deadline, kerjakan final exam sebelum deadline
4. Copy-paste semua materi kedalam satu file, dan jadikan pdf.  Bila ada materi yang keluar dalam tes, tinggal search aja pada file pdf tsb.
5. Klik kanan >> Search google for "..." , untuk soal/materi yang benar-benar tidak bisa, ini adalah trik khusus saya saat tidak faham, biasanya soal sejenis ada pada forum, dan dalam sekejap anda akan menemukan jawabannya.

Ini adalah tips dari saya, bagaimana dengan anda? apakah anda memiliki tips khusus? Let's share.... :D

An Introduction to ICT: A MOOC

Information and Communication Technology is one of the most developed challenging area in the world. Information and communications technology (ICT) is often used as an extended synonym for information technology (IT), but is a more specific term that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), computers as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audio-visual systems, which enable users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information.

Through this course, we'll learn about information and communication technology area focusing in computer, data communication and computer network. Moreover, the schema of those three sub-areas are illustrated below.

A schema of ICT Course

Belajar Membaca Al-Quran di Global Quran School

Tuntutlah ilmu dari buaian sampai liang lahat, begitu sabda baginda Nabi. Belajar agama (sebagian ahli berpendapat bahwa yang diwajibkan hanyal ilmu agama saja), juga harus dilakukan dari kecil sampai ajal menjemput. Sebagai usaha untuk mentaati hadist tersebut, meski sudah belajar ngaji Quran sejak kecil, sampai kini saya masih belajar dan akan terus belajar, khususnya belajar Islam dan membaca Quran dengan baik dan benar. Dari orang-tua, TPA, sekolah umum, pesantren hingga beberapa ustadz, ulama dan kyai, saya pernah berguru kepada mereka. Berganti zaman, kini guru ngaji saya bertambah, si internet dengan mbah gugel yang super jenius dan beberapa halaman  (web page) favorit saya. Alquranschool namanya, selain proyek baru ODOJ (OneDayOneJuz) yang juga mulai saya ikuti.

Sertifikat dan Hadiah dari Global Quran School

Saya terkesima dan salut dengan kerja para relawan dari Al-Quran School ini. Saya menyebutnya relawan karena selama saya belajar kepada mereka saya belum pernah membayar sepeser pun. Justru mereka yang datang ke Jepang, mengadakan acara "wisuda" dan memberi sertifikat serta hadiah kepada kami, para muridnya, padahal negeri mereka, Mesir, sedang carut-marut dilanda konflik perebutan kekuasaan. Pada gambar diatas tampak sertifikat yang saya terima, selain hadiah berupa gantungan kunci keren dan mushaf Al-Quran mungil dan ringkas dibawa kemanapun.

Belajar Sejarah, Keamanan dan Teknologi Internet Via Coursera: IHST

Internet merupakan media terbaik untuk belajar, namun belajar sejarah, keamanan dan teknologi internet sendiri juga merupakan bidang yang menarik. Coursera sebagai salah satu platform mooc terbesar saat ini telah menawarkan kelas IHST (Internet History, Security and Technology) dalam websitenya. Kuliah tersebut merupakan adopsi mata kuliah yang diampu oleh Dr. Chuck di University of Michigan.

Statement of Accomplishment

IHST membahas sejarah internet dan komputasi pada umumnya sejak perang dunia, dimana security menjadi masalah besar dan berdampak pada hasil perang antara sekutu dengan Nazy Jerman. Keberhasilan sekutu dalam memecahkan sandi Jerman merupakan titik balik kemenangan mereka. Pengembangan internet dan www yang diinisasi oleh CERN, awal-awal teknologi komputer seperti NexStep yang dikembangkan oleh Steve Jobs di Apple, perkembangan Microsoft dan Windows OS, technopreneurship di internet seperti Amazon-nya Jeff Bezos, evolusi browser dari Netscape menjadi Mozilla Firefox, maupun teknologi keamanan internet yang menggunakan private key dan public key menjadi silabus mata kuliah online IHST ini. Silabus lengkap IHST bisa dilihat pada halaman mata kuliah tersebut di Coursera.

Belajar Bahasa Inggris Gratis Via edX: College Writing 2.1x

Belajar bisa dimana saja dan kapan saja. Salah satu tempat untuk memanfaatkan waktu luang dengan belajar adalah saat surfing internet. Ya! internet bisa kita manfaatkan untuk belajar banyak hal termasuk berbagai jenis bahasa. Sekedar browsing di internet saja tidak cukup untuk belajar bahasa, lebih khusus lagi, mengikuti kuliah online gratis cukup menggiurkan apalagi materi yang ditawarkan cukup berbobot, padat dan praktis. Asyiknya lagi, kita akan mendapatkan sertifikat bila lulus mata kuliah online tersebut.

Ada banyak platform MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) yang menawarkan kuliah bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa international yang paling banyak dipakai di seluruh dunia. Dua platform MOOC terbaik, Coursera dan edX menawarkan beberapa kelas bahasa Inggris seperti English Composition I, Crafting an Effective Writer, First Year Composition  2.0 (Coursera), College Writing 2.1x dan College Writing 2.2x (edX). Alhamdulillah, saya telah menyelesaikan BerkeleyX College Writing 2.1x: Principles of written English via edX. Berikut certificate of completion saya.. :)

Link verifikasi sertifikat College Writing 2.1x Via edX

Open Education: Chance and Challange

Sir John Daniel, the Commonwealth of Learning, ever said that it would require building three campuses for 30,000 students every week for the next 13 years. In this era, there is an alternative to solve this problem, a problem which is caused by the conventional teaching method which requires physical building and physical meetings, a face to face. The alternative is an open education model which is backgrounded by [1],

1. The lack of high-quality training materials
2. Shortage of qualified teachers
3. Evident to expand access of (formal) education

Those three reasons caused open movement in education. On of the big ones, grow big and bigger, is MOOC, a massive open online course. Why MOOCs? The discussion about the future of education will never end, but the trend converges to the three aspects below [2],

1. Technology—especially the Web, social media, and related technologies—enabling new forms of distributed education and learning
2. Growing numbers of “edupreneurs” with new ideas for how to create new and innovative education and learning experiences, and benefiting from incubators and willing investors providing risk capital for new edu-ventures
3. Disillusion by many students (and parents) of existing, traditional educational models and, especially, the high cost and inflexibility of these models.

The MOOC accommodates all of those three aspects: technology, edupreneurs, and the disillusion of current educational model. MOOC offers online learning with informal teaching method. You can learn while eating, seating in your room, or while doing other activities. As you can follow the course on MOOC, do all quizzes and tasks, meet the minimum score and requirement to pass the course, then you will get a certificate of accomplishment. MOOC is simple, yet revolutionary learning method!

Fact and Example of Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is logic arguments. It makes analysis and it is arguable. Thesis statement IS NOT main idea in paragraph. It reflects the arguments you are making about your main idea in a clear one or two sentences. Here are facts and examples of thesis statement.

Fact

• A fact (or observation) is not thesis statement 
• A strong thesis just have ONE main point, no more. 
• A strong thesis is arguable from evidence
• A good thesis can be expressed in two sentences 

Example:

• "Ernest Hemingway is one of my favorite authors." Not a thesis statement. No one could have an alternative opinion about this; if you say he's your favorite author, then he is. 
• "The music of Pink Floyd was the most important influence on American pop music in the 1980s." This is a strong thesis that could be argued with evidence.
• "Eating organic food is good for your health and helps the farming economy, too." The problem with this one is that it focuses on two main points, not one, as required by a strong thesis.

Connected Learning: Learn together in Information Era

The concept of connected learning is as human being we are connected each other. The use of technology in the information age is needed and it is very useful to gain knowledge by optimizing the use of technology. The distance between people while learning is solve by the use of this technology. Connected learning is new but old concept which is bridging the social life in global world.

Connected Learning Concept

As a concept, the are three educational values, three learning principles, and three design principles. Those three kinds of elements can be summarized in the following paragraph. The first is three values as the core of connected learning:

The Future of Internet

The next 20 years, by 2033, there might be more than 80 billion devices connected to the Internet [1]. In this post I proposed three key points that will change the internet technology from the current era.

The openness

The open source technology was well developed and impressively increased in quantity of products, apps and platforms. There is also a growth in open hardware technology. The giant in IT market like Google has released its Android to the community so they can contribute more. Other companies such as IBM, Redhat, and Canonical have invested in open source technology. Mozilla Firefox as the most used web-browser is also an open source technology succeeded the Netscape browser [2]. The current trend also shows significant increment on the use of opensource licence like MIT and GPL for public software. Choose the free and opensource license if you want to contribute to the future of the internet. Here is the guideline.

Rhetorical Concepts: Ethos, Logos, Pathos, Kairos and Commonplaces

One of criteria to asses rubric (writing project, proposal, report) is the use of rhetorical concepts in crafting argument. So, what rhetorical concepts are..?

Ethos
Ethos is frequently translated as some variation of “credibility or trustworthiness,” but it originally referred to the elements of a speech that reflected on the particular character of the speaker or the speech’s author. Today, many people may discuss ethos qualities of a text to refer to how well authors portray themselves. But ethos more closely refers to an author’s perspective more generally. In this resource, ethos means “author.”

Logos
Logos is frequently translated as some variation of “logic or reasoning,” but it originally referred to the actual content of a speech and how it was organized. Today, many people may discuss the logos qualities of a text to refer to how strong the logic or reasoning of the text is. But logos more closely refers to the structure and content of the text itself. In this resource, logos means “text.”

Pathos
Pathos is frequently translated as some variation of “emotional appeal,” but it originally referred to the elements of a speech that appealed to any of an audience’s sensibilities.

How-to: Composing Feedback (Peer-Review)

Three steps when we are composing written feedback (peer-review) for authors:

1. Describe
In your own words, describe the part of the writing that you are responding to. This description is helpful to writers because it allows them to understand how you are reading their writing.
2. Assess
After you describe the part of the writing you are responding to, assess by pointing out both strengths and weaknesses. This is helpful to writers because it points out where their writing succeeds and where it falls short of succeeding. 
3. Suggest
After you describe and assess the part of the writing you are responding to, suggest how the writer might make changes if he or she were to revise or how the writer might think differently about writing in future assignments. In this class, writers might choose to revise simply because they want to improve their writing. Also, writers might take advantage of “Level Up” assignments, optional opportunities for them to publish their writing for a public audience, and your suggestions will help them pro- duce their best writing for a wider readership.

Copy-paste from :
- Scott Lloyd DeWitt & Michelle Cohen, The WEx Training Guide.