Computing for Bristol physics students 2003-2004
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I met with Dr. Jeff Odell, Senior Tutor, today (17th June) to discuss
the teaching of programming and general computing to physics
undergraduates at Bristol University Physics Dept. The situation is
probably best summed up by the information sheet I gave him,

 PROPOSED RE-VAMPING OF TEACHING OF COMPUTING IN BRISTOL 
 PHYSICS DEPARTMENT.
 
 17th June 2003
 
 Students in first and second year learn Maple and Visual
 Basic on Win32 computers. In third year they are expected
 to use C++ or Fortran on UNIX-like computers (i.e. Linux)
 during their projects. This can be daunting, especially
 for someone with no UNIX experience whatsoever.
 
 An elegant solution could be to teach how to use a UNIX
 computer preliminarily, later C++, using the SDF public
 access computing facility, (http://freeshell.org). This 
 has the following advantages...
 
     o No extra software needs to be bought/configured. 
       (Dept. computers already have the puTTY 
       secure-shell client)
     o Familiarises students with UNIX. (SDF runs NetBSD)
     o SDF servers are very fast. (Modern DEC-ALPHA 
       processors)
     o Very fast internet connection so lag is minimal.
     o Almost zero cost access .(see below)
     o Wider community support and friendly environment.
     o Private chat-rooms possible.
     o Supports public access computing.
 
 A suggested set-up could be all students sharing a single 
 ARPA account (one-off cost of 36 euros, allows access to 
 C++ compiler) although the details would have to be 
 confirmed with the SDF administrator.
 
 Contact details for the main SDF administrator are as 
 follows...
 
 Name:     Stephen Jones
 Email:    <edited out due spam>
 Address:  SDF-EU Public Access UNIX System
           Post Office BOX 1270
           Bellevue Washington 98009-1270
 
 Stephen will be able to refer you to other colleges, 
 schools and universities that have used SDF in such a way
 in the past.

 My contact details, should you have any questions, are as 
 follows...

 Name:     Brendan Arnold
 Email:    <edited out due spam>
 Tel:      (0117) 9241074 (Before 22/06/03)
           (01472) 587966 (After 22/06/03)

The above focuses on learning C, however Dr. Odell mentioned that it was
unlikely that a course in C would be introduced (citing language
complexity). In hindsight it may have been advantageous to push the fact
that a Fortran compiler is also available however I was unsure at the
time whether SDF offered such a facility. I've sent him an email since
telling him that it does.

I discovered that although project briefs only mention C++ and Fortran,
many people opt to use other languages, VB being a popular choice and so
was unlikely to be replaced in the syllabus. He also mentioned that the
department is being pushed towards adopting Visual Studio since it
offers easy linking of C# (for back-ends) and VB (for GUIs) as well as
offering a Fortran compiler. They were also probably going to drop
Maple. There is a committe which is reviewing the course at the moment.

On the bright side, Dr. Odell seemed to appreciate that UNIX
command-line experience would be useful and took my suggestion of
learning via SDF onboard. He agreed to take the idea and information
sheet to the committee.