[LispSea] instruction then presentation

[Daniel J Pezely]

Brandon wrote:
>>     Anyone interested in teaching Lisp?
> 
> Not for $0.


Think bigger!  Who said anything about not getting paid?

It's easy enough to get a course into the UW Experimental College or via 
one of the community colleges.  (SCCC is taking applications for Winter 
session.)

I was actually hoping that we might tap a grad student or professor who 
might be interested in offering a course outside the normal computer 
science curriculum but not diluted, either.

It can and should be separate from a "users' group" structure.



 > Nobody learns anything in 30 minutes.

For picking up something like an entire language, I agree.

For incremental tweaking of one's knowledge such as picking up an 
alternative approach or finding a new library, 30 can be enough.



 > Nor does anyone learn anything in 2 days.

I disagree with the blanket condemnation.

Immersion-- even a brief two day series of workshops-- has its place for 
/some/ people.

Perhaps it's just not for you.  Likewise, some learn best in classrooms 
while others find that "spoon-fed" knowledge just doesn't work for them.


I've taken the discussion of a seminar/workshop to the Gardeners list 
last night, so we'll see what comes of that.


 > ... I think we have to motivate people to learn on their own,
 > and provide them resources that help them do that. ...

People have to motivate themselves-- you know, "you can lead a horse to 
water but can't make it drink" and all that.

	Having used Lisp in the past, I know that it's a steep two year 
learning curve for Common Lisp.  That's two solid years of progressive 
use and before crossing-over for it becoming one's principal language.

Many just want to take the blue pill, jack in and download knowledge-- 
sorry, try again!

	As far as resources are concerned, there are enough out there for 
people to learn; of course, *finding* anything easily is the biggest 
problem, and quality could be improved.


	...And that takes us back to comments last month on this list: build a 
"one stop shopping" portal web site for lisp, do something useful with 
the Lisp Questionnaire, etc.  However, the Gardeners are addressing 
those types of larger issues; participation encouraged:
http://www.lispniks.com/cl-gardeners/

Plus, several individuals are adding to the collection of Lisp movies. 
http://www.cliki.net/Lisp%20Videos


	Where does that leave us?  What need would we fill that isn't already 
addressed elsewhere?

-Daniel