Facebook supports open-source software course
By Bill S=
teele
pports-open-source-software-course">http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/201=
3/11/facebook-supports-open-source-software-courseA new course at Cornell, =93Open-Source Software Engineering,=94 create=
d in cooperation with Facebook, gives students practical experience working=
on real-world software development and collaborating with teams around the=
world.
Cornell is one of about two dozen universities, all leaders in computer sci=
ence, invited to participate in Facebook=92s =93Open Academy=94 program to =
bring open-source software into the classroom. Open-source projects are cre=
ated and managed by teams of volunteers who make their code available to th=
e public; anyone can submit changes or improvements.
=93Facebook wants students to come out with experience working on large=
existing code bases,=94 said Ross Tate, assistant professor of computer sc=
ience, who teaches the course. =93I can see most companies being interested=
in this. Working on open source can be more difficult than working in indu=
stry.=94 Some code bases used in the course include millions of lines of co=
de. Part of the challenge is to modify some small part of that while stayin=
g in sync with the overall package.
Students in the course are divided into small teams; each team works on=
a specific project as part of a =93virtual team=94 with students from othe=
r universities, guided by an industry mentor who is usually a member of the=
group managing the software they will work on. In the first offering of th=
e course this past spring, students worked on modifications to seven open-s=
ource programs, including the widely used the Ruby on Rails, a framework fo=
r Web applications, and MongoDB, a database program for storing and searchi=
ng documents.
Underscoring the value of the course as preparation for the job market,=
Tate asked mentors to grade his students on a scale of =93How likely would=
you be to hire this student?=94
=93A lot of programmers will [contribut=
e to open-source software] on their own. They will find a product they are =
passionate about and work on it,=94 explained Jeran Fox =9213, who took the=
course in the spring. =93This is obviously cool because we're getting =
credit for it and have a mentor who's a major contributor.=94 Fox will =
join a startup in San Francisco, where he will probably work with a team of=
programmers who are all in the same room.
The course is not easy to get into. Facebook provides travel expenses f=
or the students to attend a =93Hackathon=94 conference in Palo Alto at the =
beginning of the semester, where they meet their mentors and the students f=
rom other universities who will be on their virtual teams, so the size of t=
he class is limited. Prospective students must submit an application laying=
out their programming credentials.
=93I encourage them to apply only if they have coding under their belts=
,=94 Tate said. =93When I teach the class I focus more on how to be a progr=
ammer and be a part of a community.=94
The first class had 17 students, =
making Cornell=92s the largest class at any of the participating schools. T=
his coming spring, Tate hopes for a class as large as 40.
--
Regards,
Evan M. Inker
Facebook supports open-source software course
By Bill S=
teele
pports-open-source-software-course">http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/201=
3/11/facebook-supports-open-source-software-courseA new course at Cornell, =93Open-Source Software Engineering,=94 create=
d in cooperation with Facebook, gives students practical experience working=
on real-world software development and collaborating with teams around the=
world.
Cornell is one of about two dozen universities, all leaders in computer sci=
ence, invited to participate in Facebook=92s =93Open Academy=94 program to =
bring open-source software into the classroom. Open-source projects are cre=
ated and managed by teams of volunteers who make their code available to th=
e public; anyone can submit changes or improvements.
=93Facebook wants students to come out with experience working on large=
existing code bases,=94 said Ross Tate, assistant professor of computer sc=
ience, who teaches the course. =93I can see most companies being interested=
in this. Working on open source can be more difficult than working in indu=
stry.=94 Some code bases used in the course include millions of lines of co=
de. Part of the challenge is to modify some small part of that while stayin=
g in sync with the overall package.
Students in the course are divided into small teams; each team works on=
a specific project as part of a =93virtual team=94 with students from othe=
r universities, guided by an industry mentor who is usually a member of the=
group managing the software they will work on. In the first offering of th=
e course this past spring, students worked on modifications to seven open-s=
ource programs, including the widely used the Ruby on Rails, a framework fo=
r Web applications, and MongoDB, a database program for storing and searchi=
ng documents.
Underscoring the value of the course as preparation for the job market,=
Tate asked mentors to grade his students on a scale of =93How likely would=
you be to hire this student?=94
=93A lot of programmers will [contribut=
e to open-source software] on their own. They will find a product they are =
passionate about and work on it,=94 explained Jeran Fox =9213, who took the=
course in the spring. =93This is obviously cool because we're getting =
credit for it and have a mentor who's a major contributor.=94 Fox will =
join a startup in San Francisco, where he will probably work with a team of=
programmers who are all in the same room.
The course is not easy to get into. Facebook provides travel expenses f=
or the students to attend a =93Hackathon=94 conference in Palo Alto at the =
beginning of the semester, where they meet their mentors and the students f=
rom other universities who will be on their virtual teams, so the size of t=
he class is limited. Prospective students must submit an application laying=
out their programming credentials.
=93I encourage them to apply only if they have coding under their belts=
,=94 Tate said. =93When I teach the class I focus more on how to be a progr=
ammer and be a part of a community.=94
The first class had 17 students, =
making Cornell=92s the largest class at any of the participating schools. T=
his coming spring, Tate hopes for a class as large as 40.
--
Regards,
Evan M. Inker
