Python/LaTeX workshop at Guruvayurappan College, Calicut
Python/LaTeX workshop at Guruvayurappan College, Calicut
2010-2-4
I was at the Zamorin's Guruvayurappan College, Calicut on Feb 1st and 2nd to conduct a Python/LaTeX workshop. A few interesting facts about the college - it was founded in 1877 - it has a 100 acre campus on top of a hill from where you can view the sea!
This is one college where the new syllabus is going to be implemented very well, reason being the fact that it has one or two very motivated math teachers who are learning things with great enthusiasm. One of these teachers had collected a lot of tutorial stuff regarding LaTeX from the web; she also had access to the material prepared by the FOSSEE team. It was the first time that a teacher asked me to give the students some project ideas so that they can do something creative with the things that they learn!
Regarding the workshop itself - most of the student's were already writing Python code, so I didn't have much work to do. I tried introducing classes/objects - not sure whether the students got the hang of it. This was the first time I was doing LaTeX - I believe the students didn't find it very hard.
Though the workshop was on Feb 1st and 2nd, I reached calicut on the 30th itself to participate in a wedding (on the 31st). After the function, Kishore and myself went to see "Avatar" at the Crown theatre (3D). I had heard somebody joke on twitter that "my dear kuttichaathan" was a better 3d film; there is also an amusing avatar-as-vietnam-colony gossip doing the rounds! Well, I am sure that the way you experience films is very subjective - but I feel this is one film which is getting a lot of undeserved praise (Kishore told me that he went to sleep for some time during the show).