11th October, 2009, I, Kishan and Meejanur started our journey to Malda for the workshop at IMPS College. We boarded the Gour Express from Burdhaman Junction at 00:30 Hrs 12-10-2009. Kushal and Harsh boarded the same train from Sealdah. We reached Malda Town at around 6 AM in the morning. We got together in the station and had some chit-chat amongst ourselves. Kushal was taken to a hotel for his stay and we were taken to the college hostel by the college vehicle ( Maruti Omni).

WORKSHOP Day 1 12/10/2009

After having some rest, we freshened up and had some breakfast. We then went to the college at around 9:15 AM. It was a session for the 4th year IT students of IMPS college. Kushal gave a brief introduction on FOSS and then asked us to give a small introduction on Fedora and about our activities and how we started using Fedora. Then followed a session on Python from the very basics. We assisted Kushal by helping the students solve their doubts in their places. It was only coding using the python shell for the 1st day. Students were asked to solve a few problems. Good performers were given Fedora Badges. The session lasted till 1:00 PM and then there was a break.

After the break, it was time for the session for the 3rd year IT students of the college. Kushal gave an introductory talk on FOSS and Fedora. Then just like the previous session, it was all Python, hisss… They started enjoying python already because of its simplicity, elegance. It was all Python for the day, but only in the interpreter.

WORKSHOP Day 2 13/10/2009

The session started with the 4th year students of IT as the day before. They were introduced to the vi editor, and then some python scripting using the vi editor. Then they were told about various projects they can do within Fedora. Kushal also told them about **git. **Kushal also demoed them some PyQt and PyGTK applications and some Django. They seemed to like Django among others.

Time for a break.

After the lunch, it was time for the 2nd year students of IT. They have learnt C in the previous semester and were then doing Data Structures. So they were given a very basic introduction to vi editor followed by C with gcc. Then it was followed by a basic session on Python.

WORKSHOP Day 3  14/10/2009

The 3rd day of workshop started with the 3rd year IT students. They continued with Python. They along with some teachers started enjoying python. In the second session, the 2nd year IT students were taught more python. Python is simple, more readable, and after all the codes written in Python are much smaller to those written in C. The students were also told how to start contributing. Some students brought their laptops for installing Fedora. We also made a 1GB mini repository with basic packages and a shell script to automatically install them.

The 3 Day Fedora workshop was indeed a good experience for us. But it will be a success if the students start contributing to the community. For this, the teachers have an important role to play and we hope they will.

Event pics can be found at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kushaldas/sets/72157622631345996/