In the first week we spent time discussing what creative coding is, looked at the command line, and introduced GitHub.com. This class will build on these ideas by introducing a number of the basic technologies you will utilize throughout the course. These technologies are intended to make your work easier and facilitate community. These are also all technologies used in professional work, for artists and tech companies alike.
These include;
.md)Text documents include many file types and can be simply described as any file that stores ASCII character data (as opposed to binary data). These text files can include text documents of prose, code, or some combination of both.
Text files can be created and edited using a “Text Editor” application. The default application on Mac and Windows are the following, respectively; textEdit.app & Notepad.exe. However, specialty applications exist which can ease the type of work you will be undertaking this semester. These applications are designed to speed up the writing process and are specially designed to display text documents in a way that makes identifying errors more easy.
Git version control allows a user to easily track changes in text documents between progressing versions (hence, version control). This technology tracks and stores changes at the word level in files. This makes it possible for the user to see how they have changed a file, as well as leaving comments about changes so that they can remember why they may have made certain choices in the past. Git version control also allows for the collaboration of users on a single file by assisting in the merge process if the two users change the same part of a file. This make it possible for large teams to work together on single projects.
GitHub.com is a ‘remote host’ for Git repositories. Like GoogleDrive or Dropbox, this allows a user to store their data “in the cloud”. This means that work is accessible anywhere. Additionally, this means that Git based projects can more easily be collaborative, as multiple users can push/pull from the same shared repository. GitHub.com also offers simple web site hosting, which we will leverage in this course.
A Markdown file is a special type of text document that allows for semantic structure and syntax (headings, paragraphs, lists, etc.) to be declared within the document. These files are then “processed” or “rendered” and displayed as rich text with declared styling applied. This process is known as marking-up a document, or simply as a markup language. This is technically the first computer ‘language’ you will learn in this course. GitHub.com uses the markdown language to display ‘readme’ pages and information about repositories. You will be required to write a readme markdown file to explain your process with every homework submission throughout the semester.
Remember if you have issues or problems to utilize the “GitHub issues forum” that you responded to last week. You should always first look if anyone has had a similar problem as you are having, if so, add a comment discussing how (if at all) your issue differs. Then start talking with each other about how to fix your problem.
Also, you are expected to participate throughout the semester in helping your fellow classmates solves their problems. You should plan on visiting the issues page a few times a week to read through the most recent issues. If you have “starred and followed” the course repo, as asked during week 1, you will receive e-mails with new issues.
You should plan to respond and assist your classmates at least once per week. Remember: You will get a grade on the number of times you participate at the end of the semester.