Objectives
- Stimulate interest in the Computer Merit Badge project
- Establish plan for subsequent meetings (when, where, topics)
Stimulate Interest
With Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator on 2 PCs and a sniffer between, demonstrate that with the proper networking and etc., computers can do something useful and interesting.
Then when we have established that there is a good reason to learn something about these computers, introduce the component parts that support online interactive gaming. On subsequent sessions we can drill down into each part....
- computing hardware
- network hardware
- network software
- Internet protocols
- Systems Software - OS, network stacks, file systems, software libraries
- programming languages and development environment
- shrink-wrap programs
- servers
- systems and network management
Stories
- Moore's Law
- Gary Kildall and CP/M
- Hackers Dictionary, Cukoo's Egg
- Programming Discipline, Provably Correct Programming
- IBM's Black Team
Plan for Subsequent Meetings
- Computing Hardware - take a computer apart; put a computer together from parts?
- Network Hardware, Software, Internet Protocols - LAN party?
- OS - Install an operating system?
- Programming - install Ruby and write a simple program?
- Shrink-Wrap Software - install and use a photo editor?
- Servers - build a web server based on Apache or Confluence?
- Systems and Network Management - tour Juneau Data Center
