I attended the world’s first Raspberry Jamboree on Saturday – a large gathering of teachers, techies and children of all ages who share a passion for the Raspberry Pi. I was there to teach Python. I came away inspired.
My overriding impression of the day was the infectious enthusiasm of this diverse community, be they seven (a young proto-programmer who attended my Python tutorial) or 70 (a pensioner exhibiting various DIY whizz-pop hardware creations to be plugged in to the Raspberry Pi). Everyone appeared to have something to share, show, demo or learn. There were workshops, panels and talks to suit all levels, as well as free educational resources such as a screaming exploding jelly baby kit (stick a light emitting diode up its bum, connect it to a Raspberry Pi, run some Python code and watch it burn – much to the amusement of everyone but the poor old jelly baby).
The best talk of the day was given by 13 year old Amy Mather who explained how she created a version of Conway’s Game of Life written in Python. Not content with seeing the results of her work on a screen, she proceeded to tell us how she connected her program to a matrix of LEDs via an Arduino micro-controller. The talk encapsulated everything that draws people to the Raspberry Pi: it appeals to all ages and sexes, it’s fun, it works with other hardware, it encourages “mad scientist” style creativity, learning and experimentation and you end up with interesting and often useful results.
I predict that a significant minority of kids and teachers will want one for Christmas. I just need to prize my kids off mine, but given the ridiculously cheap price tag I might as well buy another one.
Did I forget to mention the enthusiastic community…? If you want to find out what the fuss is about, go visit a Raspberry Jam!