Reading Code

We will try to cover a variety of project types and languages (javascript, php, python, ruby), and for each project and/or language, information about tools for reading, debugging or understanding the relevant "stack" will be introduced. 

During the weekly course meetings, a different person will lead each session and together we will go over the section of code assigned for that week, discussing our understanding of what is happening, techniques employed, and areas we found difficult to understand. At the end of the in-virtual-person session, the next week's subject matter will be introduced.

Initial list of proposed projects (balancing languages, familiar/popular frameworks, newness (older and cruftier or well developed vs new code))-- this list will be refined with course participants based on experience and interest as appropriate:

• Drupal or wordpress (php)
• Django or tornado (python)
• Jquery, NodeJS or Protovis (javascript)
• Mongodb (c++) or one of the mongodb language drivers (ruby/python)
• Need a Rails project
• Erlang? Haskel?
• Browser extension firefox s3:// extension (ec2/s3)

Language/framework inspection and debugging tools

• Print statements
• Firebug/Chrome developer tools (javascript)
• strace
• server log files
• ... more here (add your suggestions!)

What you can Expect to Learn

• Code Reading comprehension
  
• Exposure to different languages
  
• Debugging tools for different environments and languages

What you Might Learn if you Work Hard

• You might end up submitting a patch if you come across bugs or have ideas for enhancements

Thing we won't Cover

• Writing code

• Installation and configuration of these tools, although it will probably be helpful to have them installed (to tweak/explore/break them!), and there will be indirect/informal support via the chat room for doing this.