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2010 Preconference Proposals

13 bytes added, 23:23, 15 December 2009
Proposals for 2010 Code4LibCon Preconferences
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Two sessions on getting up to speed as a programmer. Intended for people relatively new to programming, or wanting to improve their skills from beginner to intermediate. If you're new to code4lib and are worried that the talks might go over your head, come to this session, and we'll be sure you're ready! (Dan Chudnov)
* Hacker 101/102 - (morning, Dan Chudnov)
Are you an accidental hacker? Recent MLS grad who got handed all the web scripting duties because "those young people know all that stuff now"? Slid over from reference, tech services, or archives into "doing the tech stuff" because nobody else would? Humanities major who found a good job in the library but never wrote a lick of code before? Sole hacker in a sea of non-technical folks who never has anyone to look to for mentoring? Learned a lot on your own, but you still sometimes "just get stuck" at the same places in your code? If these descriptions sound like you, and you're coming to code4lib to build a better foundation of programming know-how for yourself, or you've already got some basics down and need to fill in some big gaps, this is the preconference for you. We'll cover some basic tenets of how code works and work through some fun, informative examples together. We'll also leave plenty of time for questions and will gear the session to what the people who attend want to learn.
* Hacker 201/202 - (afternoon, Dan Chudnov)
Picking up where 101/102 leaves off, we'll apply what we cover in the morning to practical library situations. Parse MARC records; stuff XML metadata into a database; query that data with SQL; put up a web interface to that query; replace it all with a Solr backend; dress up the web page with CSS and JavaScript. (Note: we're not going to focus on Solr for very long; if you want to focus on Solr, go to the dedicated Solr preconf sessions!)