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The Great Code Club
- jonhmchan 13y agoNice resource - just applied
- sdegutis 13y agoA little off-topic, but it makes me a little sad that the exemplar my_great_project it mentions is in JavaScript. It's not because of the language itself. It's because it's implied that the platform my_great_project would be built on is "Chrome, the new C runtime". This is the "platform of the future" and that makes me kinda sad. EDIT: clarified
- ihuman 13y agoHow come? JavaScript is a pretty popular language nowadays.
- sneak 13y agoMacklemore is a pretty popular rapper these days, too. Doesn't make 'em any good, though.
- Zikes 13y agoProgramming languages are a means to an end. Greatness can be achieved in a variety of environments.
- sdegutis 13y agoIt's not because of the language itself. It's because it's implied that the platform my_great_project would be built on is "Chrome, the new C runtime". This is the "platform of the future" and that makes me kinda sad.
- Zikes 13y agoC/C++ won't be going anywhere for a long, long time. Don't worry. However, if it really bugs you that much, why not create a Great C Club? The necessity of a good community web site to power it notwithstanding.
- sdegutis 13y agoIt's not that I'm attached to C and C++. It's that I think the Web as a development platform is kind of a Rube Goldberg machine, and I think we as a community of programmers could probably do a whole lot better.
- frou_dh 13y agoIt's not about what's better or worse. It's about where the audience is. The web absolutely nailed reach, but if you're fine with forfeiting that, you're still free to build with whatever you fancy.
- bithive123 13y agoAre the lower layers really any less Goldbergian though? I would bet that everything from the physical hardware on up is laden with path dependencies, workarounds, and efficiency vs portability tradeoffs. There's more to goodness than technical aesthetics -- ubiquity is important and arguably harder to achieve.
- macournoyer 13y agoI guess it's safe to say that most web dev know JavaScript. That's why I chose to use it as an example and will also use it to present projects in the club.
- m0a0t0 13y agoSo is it just for web devs then?
- macournoyer 13y agoNot at all. But I'm assuming some knowledge of web development. For example, one project will be to code an HTML5 game, but you can choose to implement it in C or Java. You'll need to be able to understand JavaScript/HTML to learn from the screencasts that will present the project since I will be using JS and HTML5 canvas. That's just an example, another project idea I have atm is implementing language or compiler.
- githulhu 13y agoBlocked by WebSense at my work. "Potentially Damaging Content." :(
- codezero 13y agoI'm curious why this even mentions that no credit card is required to apply. Is it required later? Why mention it at all if it's not? Also, I use Ghostery and it blocks Google Analytics which seems to consequently block the click-through on your Apply button.
- jmduke 13y agoNotice the last checkbox in the application form: I'm willing to commit $30/mo to become a better developer.
- codezero 13y agoGotcha, I couldn't get to the next page because of Ghostery.
- macournoyer 13y agoDamnit! Just disabled GA tracking. Thanks for spotting that. There will be a monthly fee to join. I'll try to make it clearer on the page, sorry about that. This is my business, I make a living teaching developers online.
- codezero 13y agoNo worries, this is fair, thanks for following up!
- macournoyer 13y agoI'm the creator of the club. Happy to answer any questions about this. I'm just getting started with this so feedback is very much appreciated :)
- ricardobeat 13y agoWill it cost $30/month? That last checkbox takes you by surprise.
- macournoyer 13y agoNot fixed on the price yet. But yes, most probably.
- scotthtaylor 13y agoWhat do we get for $30?
- macournoyer 13y agoMostly what the site says: http://www.greatcodeclub.com/#content http://www.greatcodeclub.com/#content - Screencasts presenting the project, giving the basics and showing solutions. - Code to get started, full projects and examples. - A community for help and support. - I'll also be there supporting and answering questions. I've been teaching other devs online for a few years: http://classes.codedinc.com/ http://classes.codedinc.com/
- manish_gill 13y agoHmm. Besides the support, I'm thinking this would be something very similar to this: http://pythonpracticeprojects.com/ http://pythonpracticeprojects.com/ Code to get started doesn't make a lot of sense to me, if my goal is to complete projects! :)
- Buttons840 13y agoOdds are the starting code wouldn't be written in a language I would want to use for a side project (I'm picky about side projects since they're for fun after all). I guess I could start from scratch with the starting code as a reference, but then I wouldn't be as connect to the community who are all using different technologies.
- evv 13y agoAre you trying to find people who are learning to code, or recruit experienced developers? Falling into the latter group, I don't see any reason to pay $30/mo for an online community which already takes my time.
- macournoyer 13y agoIt's for experienced developers who want to code on cool projects on the side. I will be producing screencasts, articles and supporting ppl in the club. I think there's a value to this. Teaching other developers online is what I do for a living.
- ipedrazas 13y agoI'm not sure I'm getting it... you want people to pay to work on cool projects? like the ticket to a cool bar or something like that?
- macournoyer 13y agoSort of... but in the bar I'd be there teaching music, how to compose a song and helping you find people to practice and perhaps create your own songs. Everyone will be working the same project, for eg. a game. I will present the basics of creating a game, give code to get started, etc. Think of it as a RailsCast/PeepCode but centered around a community.
- kotakota 13y agoI don't really get it either. As an experienced developer if I want to work on a cool project I either start my own or I go on github and contribute to something I'm interested in. While the creator claims to be recruiting experienced developer's I don't see why any good developer would pay a monthly fee to work on a side project. This seems like it would attract more amateur or novice programmers who aren't comfortable contributing to a large mature project on github.
- shakingarrow 13y ago
- asgard1024 13y agoNeat, but I would prefer something similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. A self-support group for people who already have personal projects, want to work on them, but are either lazy or procrastinating or paralyzed by analysis. Although I would probably not pay money for either.
- asnark 13y agoMaybe you would be interested in a site like: http://www.stickk.com/ http://www.stickk.com/.
- yozhik 13y agoI had the exact same need, so I started a group with some coworkers to provide encouragement. As people shifted jobs membership has expanded to include people at several companies. We get together every other Tuesday and hack on projects, drink beer and network.
- alexatkeplar 13y agoWe have this in London - at least for JVM devs. It's sponsored by Salesforce, so free as in you get free breakfast and lunch and incredible views (26th floor) over London. I went for the first time this month and I'm definitely going back in Feb! http://hackthetower.co.uk/ http://hackthetower.co.uk/
- plaguuuuuu 13y agoIMO ... a psychiatrist. If you really have that much trouble starting a personal project then you either need to fix yourself or have someone help you fix yourself. sorry for bluntness, haven't had enough coffee or sleep.
- yuubi 13y agoWell, yes, that's what support groups are. Not all problems require drugs (the psychiatrist's USP is the ability to write prescriptions).
- zenbowman 13y agoThis is exactly what we had going on with our CS reading group in LA - csrg.org It worked a little too well, all of us got new and better jobs, and we're no longer close enough geographically to continue at the same rate as before. The perils of success!
- ricankng787 13y agoJust applied, very excited to see how this works.
- k-mcgrady 13y agoNice idea. I don't have the time to do this right now as I'm already working on a few side projects but I'll definitely be checking back in a few months. Not too sure $30 is the right price. $20/25 feels better to me (small difference I know but $30 just 'feels' a little high).
- Jack5500 13y agoIt would be nice to receive a confirmation mail. I'm quite sure if my application got to you now :)
- CGamesPlay 13y agoIs this more of a curated program where I am assigned a project to work on and given support towards doing so, or is this a community where people come in with projects and the community works collaboratively towards supporting these projects? Is it a club or a school?
- macournoyer 13y agoIt will start as a curated program. But my hope is to make it evolve to be both. A place to get knowledge, inspiration and motivation. And then a place to get help and support making your own thing when you're ready.
- jitl 13y agoI think then that the name is a little disingenuous. "Club" connotes a community, but not a directed program of study with a supervising teacher. The first half of the website, everything up until "Learning for all types of learners," describes an awesome community idea. Your product screenshot is a re-skinned Discourse forum. But you swerve into this sort-of class format so we can "build our resumes" to be like Twitter employees, and you're looking for $30/mo for it? This seems like less collaborative community, and more a carefully branded training course from http://classes.codedinc.com/ http://classes.codedinc.com/.
- macournoyer 13y agoNot at all what I had in mind. I want this to be a community and not a course. But to get there we have to start somewhere. And I know people can bond and form a community better if they work on similar problems, thus the projects.
- CGamesPlay 13y agoThanks for the reply. For my part I could be really interested in a walled garden community format (i.e. I get the charging part as long as you use the funds to provide value back to the community), but am less interested in curated projects. In any case, I've jot it down on my "follow up" list for when I have some more free time. Good luck!
- naturalethic 13y agoBuyer beware
- mholt 13y agoCool idea. And if you're gonna blur an image, blur the image. :)
- crazygringo 13y agoThis seems cool, as far as I can tell it's more for one's personal education, rather than producing something for others to use? So I'm curious... is there any kind of "open-source incubator" out there? Like, a site with 500 developers signed up, they all vote on new project ideas, start a new project each month, kind of like a great big collaborative hackathon, in order to put out some really impressive piece of software, that then hopefully lives on? E.g., an open-source iTunes integrated with bittorrent, complete with iPhone app. A font-design program for amateurs. A keyframed animation tool that outputs to HTML5 canvas. A dynamic texture generator program. A user-friendly neural net trainer. A new lossy image compression format and encoder/decoder designed for resolution independence instead of a fixed pixel grid. I don't know, just cool projects that get people really excited. I mean, the logistics of organizing such a thing would be a little crazy, since not every type of project is amenable to a large number of developers working in parallel, and you'd need a kind of domain expert and lead architect on each one. But it would be so, so cool...
- vikp 13y agoIt really would be. I was hoping that this "coding club" would do something like what you described, but it seems to be more of a pay-for-learning approach.
- blparker 13y ago> So I'm curious... is there any kind of "open-source incubator" out there? Like, a site with 500 developers signed up, they all vote on new project ideas, start a new project each month, kind of like a great big collaborative hackathon, in order to put out some really impressive piece of software, that then hopefully lives on? There was something posted on here a while back called AssemblyMade. They basically do crowd-sourced development. To my knowledge, ideas are voted on, and then people essentially work in a democratic environment iterating on the development. In the end, the idea is that any profits made from the project will be split.
- bitsweet 13y agoThat's exactly what Assembly does (https://assemblymade.com/ideas https://assemblymade.com/ideas). We enable everyone to openly collaborate on real products and then share the upside. Every month there is revenue Assembly transparently pays the bills and splits the remaining proceeds with everyone that built the app. disclosure: one of the founders of Assembly
- Baadier_Sydow 13y agoAny idea when it will be launching and do you have plans to limit the size of the community?
- macournoyer 13y agoIt should be launching next week or the next week after that at the latest. Yes, I will limit the size of the community. The goal is to get a core group of very passionate people first.
- Baadier_Sydow 13y agoI probably should have made my motivation a bit longer ;)
- coenhyde 13y agoI never have any problems starting something new. I have problems finishing what I start. When I start a new project I do the hard parts first for a proof of concept. Except now that I know it can be done I loose interest...
- wil421 13y agoThis looks really great. I have enough knowledge from school and online courses that I really dont need to take another curated tutorial. We havent started development on my main project at work and I am itching to use my new skills. Recently I have been looking for something to collaborate on with more experienced devs but havent found an outlet. This looks like something I was looking for.
- rgj 13y agoSo.... Your forum is meta.discourse.org with a photoshopped logo and a blur?
- allochthon 13y agoSeems like a great use of Discourse.
- ssully 13y agoI really appreciate this idea and have signed up, but the $30 monthly tag seems a bit much with the amount of information given. This could really benefit from a trial period, or maybe a demo project. A demo project would be neat; have it offer everything the other monthly projects will so people know exactly what they are getting into.
- shawndrost 13y agoI know Marc-André and can vouch for the quality of his instruction and his creative, effective class formats. This is a very cheap way to learn a lot from him, and I highly recommend it. (I teach software engineering for a living.)
- ivanbrussik 13y agoThis seems like a nifty idea. I have definitely been plagued with coders block in the past.
- redguava 13y ago@macournoyer, reading the comments here, it sounds like your value proposition isn't articulated clearly enough. There's a bunch of mentions of the price and not knowing what they are getting. In your comments here, you mention the importance of your instruction and teaching, which I think is great. Perhaps make that clearer on the website? Looks like a good idea to me.