Blog #2: Second Time Around

Second meeting in IT 1, February 4, 2015

Sweeter the Second Time Around

     When I was in 2nd year high school, we used UBUNTU in our programming class. My teacher was also from UPLB. We learned about HTML, Javascript, and C++ back then. I forgot everything that I've learned then, I only remembered a little about HTML. I was lucky that I passed the course because it was really hard for me, and everything back then was like alien language to me.

     Now in IT 1, I was again introduced to UBUNTU after almost 5 years. I swear I felt sparks (kidding :P). Ma'am Marya discussed some introductions about UBUNTU. It was heart-touching to know that Mark Shuttleworth, and the people who made and developed UBUNTU, had a purpose other than developing technology. Like Nokia's "Connecting People", UBUNTU, which actually means "humanity towards others" in Africa, seeks to have a universal bond, to connect humanity. It can also bee seen in the logo the 3 people connecting hands. Can you believe that UBUNTU is free? It also is secured, because the viruses that attack Windows do not run here. Also, they release software updates every 6 months, available to all users who have UBUNTU, and does not require buying a new laptop or reformatting just to upgrade! Isn't it amazing? (okay I think I sound like I'm endorsing :P)

Corn Kernel? NOT :P

     Ma'am Marya also discussed the basics in using UBUNTU and the interfaces (GUI or Graphical User Interface, which allows us to click icons, and CLI or Command Line Interface, in which a mouse has no use, only a keyboard and the monitor). She introduced us to the terminal or shell which looks like the cmd in Windows. The terminal or shell is called kernel. Then, we were taught how to use it using CLI.

No mouse? No problem!

     Ma'am Marya gave out handouts that had the commands that we can type in the kernel. Again, it looks alien to me, although every command had descriptions. But of course, what's a better way to teach us than letting us do it on our own? We are fortunate to have a one-is-to-one computer per person. In applying the examples in the computer, while Ma'am Marya guides us one by one, I can actually see what happens. In that way, I think we learn efficiently.

     The first exercise was given after all of us learned some commands, while some commands were left undiscussed probably for a challenge. Although challenging, it was actually fun creating and renaming folders, creating text files within folders, moving folders from Documents to Desktop, finding and counting a given word from the text in the text file, and some other things we usually do using the mouse, but we learned how to do by only typing commands in the kernel. It is actually very fulfilling and I feel satisfied and happy in what we've achieved and learned for the day.

It is only our first exercise, and I don't want to generalize but I hope I would still enjoy the next ones like I enjoyed this one. I know every exercise will get more and more challenging, so I hope it also gets more and more interesting, and more and more fulfilling. I am excited (though still anxious) to face yet another meeting in IT 1. :)