Workshop on Free Software and Programming Basics

at Vidyavardhini's College of Engineering and Technology
Vasai, Thane District, Maharashtra, India
25, 26 & 27 September, 2008

Overview and background

Many sectors of the industry are fast moving towards the use of Free Software. However, one of the lacunae in the present IT curriculum at the undergraduate level is the restriction of the students to a single proprietary operating system and a narrow range of programming languages related to it. This limits their capacities when they enter professional life and their career opportunities may get restricted accordingly.

To open up the student's options, we have devised a three-day hands-on workshop for second year students of engineering. In it, they will get practice in the Java platform on the GNU/Linux operating system and an introduction to the thinking behind Free Software and the community who support it. The workshop is part of the LUKSH programme of COSMOS.

This particular programme is exclusive to the students of the college where it is being held. However, we are putting up this course description so that any organisation who may like to have us conduct such a programme can get in touch. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Poulami Sarkar at 91-022-2382 6674 to discuss it further.

Detailed Timetable and Curriculum

Day 1

11:00am Introduction to Operating System (OS) concepts.
This will be a short theoretical lecture introducing the concept of an Operating System. The participants are assumed to have a basic knowledge of input and output devices, memory and processor. This lecture will involve a presentation explaining the concepts of OS.
Resource person: Krishnakant Mane

12 noon Free Software concepts ,Ubuntu and add-ons
Free Software involves keeping the source code open for study, modification and re distribution. This session will explain the concept of Four Freedoms in free software. The session will also be aimed at giving the students an idea the carreer opportunities it provides. The GNU/Linux distribution of Ubuntu will be explored along with a range of add on applications to illustrate.
Resource person: Anusha Kadambala

1.30pm Lunch Break

2.15pm Demonstration: installation of Ubuntu distribution of GNU/Linux

3.45pm Tea break

4.00 Introduction to SQL and RDBMS
Although students are already learning databases, they have learned it so far in a brand based manner. This session will be aimed at making the underlying SQL standards clear and to help the students realise that the SQL is behind any database built on the RDBMS rules.
Resource persons: Radhika Wadegaonkar for making database
Krishnakant Mane for normalisation of tables

5.30pm Overnight assignment is explained to the participants. A project plan will be announced. The students will have to do the final assignment on its basis. On the final day they will be evaluated by a panel which will give an award to the most outstanding project plan.
Resource person: Krishnakant Mane

6.00pm End of day.

Day 2

9.30 Installation of PostgreSQL will be demonstrated followed by a hands-on session where users will create accounts on Ubuntu, databases, stored procedures etc. Working with PostgreSQL the students will get a deeper understanding of the RDBMS.
Resource person: Radhika Wadegaonkar

11.00 am Tea break

11.30 am Introduction and installation of Java and database connectivity (JDBC)
Resource person: Krishnakant Mane

12:00 noon Introduction to GUI programing with Java Swing. Assuming that students are already familiar with core Java and are aware of its programming terminology , this session will involve GUI concepts and implementing them using Java Swing.
Resource person: Anusha Kadambala

1.30 pm Lunch break

2.15 Continuation of session on Java Swing.
Resource person: Anusha Kadambala

3.00 to 3.45 pm Collaborative practices with wikis and blogs
Resource person: Krishnakant Mane

3.45 pm Tea break

4.00 pm We return to the overnight assignment of the previous evening. The work done thus far is reviewed and the participants break up into groups who take up parts of the project.

6.00pm End of day.

Day 3

9.30 am Participants continue with their projects. Documentation has to be maintained systematically as the project development will be assessed on the following :

• System analysis.
• Layout of the Database using PostgreSQL.
• Layout of the user interface.
• Building of the system logic.
• Putting it all together in a working system.

As the students work they will be monitored by the resource person and assistants who will offer only technical support but no help on the logical aspects. The projects will be evaluated on the basis of the strength of the RDBMS, User Interface quality, overall logical understanding and elegance of coding.
All the resource persons will be involved at this time. 15 projects are expected to be finalised in this session.

1.30 pm Lunch break

2.15 pm Review of the projects of the 15 teams

4.00 pm The prize for the best in the fest is announced. We close with tea, thanks and farewells.