Archive/Current Events/2015-10-18

Sugar Digest

1. Google Summer of Code 2015 is wrapping up. The students have been writing their final blog reports, submitting last-minute patches, and uploading their code to Google. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our students and their mentors for all their hard work this summer. (Also, thanks once more to Google for supporting this program.) Great strides along many fronts were made. Specifically,

• Michaël Ohayon worked on Web versions of some core activities for the Sugarizer project: Calculate, Paint (with collaboration, Record, and Memorize. He also submitted patches to Turtle Blocks to make it compatible with Sugarizer. Michaël's [blog http://sugarizingparis2015.blogspot.fr/] and git [repo https://github.com/mikklfr] are worth visiting. (Mentor: Lionel Laske)

• Yash Khandelwal worked on Music Blocks AKA Mouse Music. This is a powerful, playful model for music in a block language. Yash's [blog [1] and git [repo https://github.com/khandelwalYash/Music-Blocks] are also worth visiting. (Mentors: Devin Ulibarri and Marnen Laibow-Koser)

• Ishan Sharma revisited the Turtle 3D concept, rewriting it in Javascript. His results ([blog https://turtle3d.wordpress.com/2015/08/24/final-update/], demo and git [repo http://ishan28mkip.github.io/turtle3D/]) are robust, scalable, and extensible. (Mentor: Walter)

• Amit Kumar Jha worked on extensions to Turtle programming this summer. He added argument passing and return values to procedures, passing arguments to and returning values from Turtle programs so that Turtle Blocks can be used for in-line programming by all Javascript activities, and he developed a unit=test framework for Turtle Blocks JS that can be extended to all of our Javascript activities. See his [blog http://sugarlabs-artista.blogspot.in/] and the master Turtle Blocks JS [repo http://github.com/walterbender/turtleblocksjs/] for more details. (Mentor: Walter)

• Richa Sehgal worked on a framework to support off-line Web programming, an interactive Javascript shell. She's submitted patches to the upstream Browse activity. Meanwhile, checkout her git [repo https://github.com/richaseh]. (Mentor: Tony Anderson)

• Vibhor Sehgal and Utkarsh Dhawan, although not officially GSoC students, worked with Tony and Richa on a parallel project, [Web Confusion https://github.com/sehgalvibhor/WebConfusion], a series of programming challenges in the spirit of Turtle Confusion to encourage students. (Mentor: Tony Anderson)

• Abhinav Anurag made some progress on a Web collaboration framework for our Javascript activities. See his [blog https://summerofcode2015.wordpress.com/] and [code https://github.com/abhinavanurag18/turtleblocksjs]. (Mentors: Martin Abente and Lionel Laske)

In the Community

2. We will be holding an election for the Sugar Labs oversight board (SLOB) at the end of the calendar year. If you are interested (or know someone who is interested) in running for a board seat (all seven seats will be open), please see Oversight_Board/2014-2015-candidates. Also, whereas ballots are only available to "members", please Sugar_Labs/Members#Applying_for_membership.

3. Mariah Noelle Villarreal has submitted a panel proposal, "Building Free and Open Education Communities", to the South by Southwest Conference (SXSW). The panelpicker voting period is now open until September 4th. If you have time, please [vote and share http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/48985] with any appropriate channels as well as a [video that was created for the proposal https://youtu.be/jh_3taqRPEc].

4. Sweet: Sugar contributors Mariah Noelle Villarreal and Ruben Rodriguez got married this summer!!!

5. There were three RED ([Revista de Educación a Distancia http://www.um.es/ead/red/46]) submissions from Sugar community members:

• Going from Bits to Atoms: Programming in Turtle Blocks JS and Personal Fabrication in Youth Maker Projects, Josh Burker
• Visualizing Learning in Open-Ended Problem Solving in the Arts, Walter Bender and Claudia Urrea
• Sensores Tortuga 2.0: Cómo el hardware y software abiertos pueden empoderar a las comunidades de aprendizaje (Turtle Sensors 2.0: How open hardware and software empower learning communities) by Guzmán Trinidad, Andrés Aguirre, Alan Aguiar, Tony Forster, Walter Bender, Facundo Benavides, and Federico Andrade

6. The Sugar/OLPC program in Caacupe is expanding!!!

Tech Talk

7. Peter Robinson announce quite some time ago that the [Sugar on a Stick 21 Beta https://fedoraproject.org/get-spin-prerelease] is now out as part of Fedora 21 Beta ([Details https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/announce/2014-November/003238.html]), but I think I neglected to ever pass on the information to the Sugar community.

8. Also worth mentioning again: Ruben Rodriguez released Trisquel 7.0 released. [TOAST (Trisquel with Sugar) http://trisquel.info/en/download] is an official edition.

Sugar Labs

9. Please visit our [planet http://planet.sugarlabs.org].