Programming Without Fear
Best Practices for New and Existing Software
Seminar presented by the Greater Boston Chapter of the ACM
Writing new code is one of the joys of programming. Modifying existing code is often one of the nightmares of programming. Unfortunately, you will spend more time modifying existing code than writing new code.
Modifying existing code often results in Whac-A-Mole Programming - you make a change in one part of the code, and a problem crops up in another place. You fix that problem and two more pop up. You quickly find yourself trapped in debug hell!
There is a better way - a sane approach to dealing with both new code and legacy code. A framework for bringing order to code chaos, for making changes to existing code that are actually improvements. And this seminar provides a powerful approach to developing and modifying code.
In this seminar you will learn reliable, sustainable and enjoyable software development practices which you can immediately put to use. These techniques, first popularized in Extreme Programming (XP), have been proven, refined and extended for more than a decade. By using them you will produce working code faster, increase its quality, and reduce technical debt — the demon that snarls later development.
Presented by Gil Broza of 3PVantage, this seminar covers key areas including Code Smells, Refactoring, Microtesting, Test-Driven Development, Dependencies, and Test Smells. You will move from hacking at code - perhaps creating more problems than you solve - to code craftsmanship.
When: November 13-14, 2010
Where: MIT Building E51
Cambridge, MA
Where: MIT Building E51
Cambridge, MA
Price: $495 through October 13, $545 through October 31
Details: www.gbcacm.org
The SACSAS Academy in the Laishoi and Maobam villages of Manipur influences change for the underprivileged and downtrodden children (up to the age of 8) that make up a large part of the community. Providing them with quality education , SACSAS Academy offers children a way out in areas where there is no formal schooling system. Generally the illiterate parents never feel the importance of getting their children quality education. SACSAS instills the habit of going to school in children so that they will compel their parents to send them to schools in nearby villages once they are finished at SACSAS Academy. 
PAT provides a number of unique and innovative services for the slum community of Trichy in Tamil Nadu. It offers the women of the area micro-loans at reasonable interest rates along with guidance on financial management and other microfinance programs. Women put these loans to use by starting small enterprises or expanding their existing enterprise. The interest from these loans is used to fund the primary education and day care of the women's children. 
Set out to eliminate discrimination of disabled children in the Ganjam district of Orissa, Samarth educates the children with the aim of eventually bringing them into the fold of mainstream schools. Here, aside from the gift of education, children are offered free meals and residence. The project aims to train and educate the disabled children in order to eventually mainstream them into educational institutions and society. Liaison and interaction with the local schools to create awareness towards the needs of differentially-abled students and special teacher training to work effectively with these children have made this project very effective. Samarth gives disabled children a true second chance. 
Harishka is a learning center serving Avalurpet and its surrounding villages in Tamil Nadu. Catering to approximately 30 children with cerebral palsy and developmental disabilities, Hariksha teaches these children basic skills regarding hygiene, motor capacity, physical therapy, special education and more. The project is in a rural area with high incidence of mental disorders and a callous attitude from the society due to a lack of awareness. These children, who used to be ill-treated and seen as a burden are being taught basic life skills at Hariksha. The staff also conducts periodic workshops to increase awareness amongst the parents and enables continuing care of these children when they return home from the learning center. Since its inception, the quality of medical care provided to children has consistently improved and the children show improvement in their daily activities. 
The red light district of the remote village of South 24 Parganans of West Bengal is populated by female sex workers bound within extremely difficult circumstances. Aside from the grittiness of their full-time jobs, most of their meager wages go toward rent, bribing the police and pimps and paying for liquor, an integral part of their profession. Such a profession is bound to leave these workers' children in dire straits. Having no other choice but to work on the streets to supplement their mothers' inadequate incomes, they face a cycle of poverty with no end in sight. Nishtha provides these children with food, education, health care and most importantly, a secure place to stay where they can exist unthreatened. 
In the fishing community of Mamallapuram, children are often forced by economic conditions to drop out after primary school and begin fishing or panning salt at around 10 years old. SEA has developed several programs in Mamallapuram to keep children out of the work force and in school. SEA's services aim to increase awareness of the value of education, appoint qualified teachers, create motivation centers, child health programs, parent-teacher meetings and youth groups to eliminate child labor. 
Puvidham is a school and boarding house for children of migrant workers, who drop out of government schools and from the National Child Labour Prevention program. Located in the Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu and operated by a local husband and wife team, Puvidham provides primary school, hostel accommodation, environmental and farm training. Children of migrant workers and those outcast from traditional schools in this area would struggle to obtain a formal education if it weren't for Puvidham, and not only does it provide a formal education, but it does so by using methods of holistic learning, instilling in the students a sense of self confidence and faith in the power of education. 
Mountain Children's Foundation works with 30 partner NGOs in Uttarakhand, reaching out to
Nartap High School and Bonpura Primary Schools in the Kamrup district of Assam were started as venture schools in the 1990s. Both schools are situated around 40-50 kms from Guwahati. Students come from poor laborer families living below the poverty line. Asha for Education's involvement with these schools started in 2004 with the construction of a school building and has since come a long way. Asha now supports the teachers, mid-day meals, stationary, excursions and is actively involved in the running of the school. These efforts have borne fruit with a high percentage of students passing the board exams. With Asha's help, ACRD aims for the all round development of the students through Quality education, vocational training and encouragement for extra-curricular activities and sports. 
Gnanadickam in 1975, aims to rehabilitate, educate, provide vocational training and replacement services to blind women. The rehabilitation services include Orientation and Mobility training, Computer learning through voice synthesizers, Braille shorthand and typewriting and many more. The vocational trainings include Weaving, Telephone Booth manning, Block Printing and more to make blind girls and women independent and self sufficient. RCBW also helps blind women socially through matrimony and has conducted over 400 marriages. Currently the residential facility hosts 80 blind women. 
Prayas is an ambitious effort by its founder Ms. Jatinder Arora to provide integrated vocational training for mentally and physically challenged children. It started in 1996 and now has branches in Jaipur, Jhalana, Rajapark, Amagarh, and Sanganer in Rajasthan. Its main goal is to provide quality education for all children- regardless of their social status or capabilities. It supports the integration of special needs children into the mainstream through an Integrated Education approach. In addition, Prayas aims to improve and provide health and nutritional care for the underprivileged and also works with governmental and non- governmental agencies to advocate children's rights. Today, Prayas serves around 500 children and helps 10000 families through different activities such as Health Camps, Vocational Training and Community Services. 
Posts
