On January 13th and January 20th, the Acadia Computer Science Society (ACSS) and Jodrey School of Computer Science (JSOCS) hosted a seminar on how to use text editors. This seminar was put together for students in Computer Science and for anyone who is interested in coding. The importance of learning how to use a good text editor could be compared to the importance of strength and endurance training for athletes. Competing in a game for the athlete is like coding for a computer scientist, the training part is learning to use the editor! In the same way that there are different programs that manipulate documents, such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or Excel, there are different editors that exist to make coding easier. These programs include text editors such as Vim, Emacs, and Sublime Text. The seminar took place every Friday at 2:30pm. During the seminars, students learned how they could program efficiently, and about the advantages and disadvantages of different editors. During the first week, the society arranged a “Battle of the Editors” where the competitors: Jim Diamond, Duane Currie, and Samuel Coleman (and Edwin Kravčenka as a sub) each picked a different editor and tried to sell it to the group. It was a fun seminar, with a great turnout and lots of enthusiastic participants. The speakers attempted to time themselves when coding passages to show the difference in efficiency between editors. Samuel Coleman joined the room (in the K.C. Irving Centre) via Virtual Network Computing (VNC). During the second week, Jim Diamond and Duane Currie continued to teach Computer Science students about keyboard shortcuts at the Beveridge Arts Centre. Handouts were provided, as well as lots of additional information. This occasion was a fun experience for all, and was very useful. It was a great way to learn more about different educational tools in an enjoyable style. The Computer Science Society will be hosting a LAN party on February 3rd from 7:00pm-12:00am at Carnegie Hall for anyone that would like to learn more about the University’s Computer Science Society. To learn more, search for the “Acadia Computer Science Society” on Facebook.
