Geekuni

I develop software and have been teaching software development for over a decade in both universities and businesses.

At Geekuni I am teaching Perl.

1. Firstly, why should one learn Perl?

One reason is that it is a powerful language with a vibrant community, and a vast number of open source packages to draw on for your own projects. As such Perl is one of the languages people choose to implement an application quickly and reliably.

The other reason to learn Perl is that there are currently too few developers to fill the Perl job openings. This is not because Perl is a boring language and no-one wants to learn it. It is because Perl has been notoriously hard to teach in academia.

2. What is Geekuni and and how does it work?

Geekuni is where you go to learn Perl online through courses designed to fit in with your own schedule.

A) Firstly, it is 100% hands on. The course gives you a sequence of exercises where you implement everything from 'Hello world' all the way through to a search engine or a gaming website, learning a new concept or skill each step along the way.

B) Secondly, there is automated feedback where the 'tutor-bot' reads and runs your code and gives you instant feedback on any errors or misunderstanding of the specs.

C) Finally, there is the discussion forum. This is like a classroom where students and the mentor discuss any questions.

Because the tutor-bot points out all the silly mistakes, when you get discussions on the forum they're usually high level discussions which can be resolved quickly through conversation.

Of course, if you are truly stuck on a problem, I will step in to help you along - and even read your code if necessary.

In summary, with the hands-on approach, the tutor-bot, the forum and me helping you along, you will learn to write high quality, maintainable code - and learn it quickly!

I look forward to seeing you at Geekuni.