Student Views and Reviews: Sun on Campus

Yesterday, I was sent some information on a really cool and FREE "summer camp" course on JavaFX for students between the ages of 13-18, that has just a few weeks left, so please don't waste any time checking out the links!

The course is brought to you by FreshBrain, which is an education platform for youth that focuses on technology and offers opportunities for teenagers to learn about and work with cutting-edge technologies in a safe community environment. FreshBrain has built an entire free virtual Summer Camp program with eight different "learning paths" students can choose from.  This includes the "Building Flash Websites with JavaFX" path in which students learn how to create animated content for a Web site on both desktop and mobile applications.

The only prerequisite is prior computer programming experience.  However, if you don't have any you still have time to take the "Learn Java Programming" learning path before signing up to learn JavaFX.

There are activities under each learning path that, when completed, will earn you a Badge!  Additionally, there is a challenge activity in which you can compete for cool prizes -- like winning up to $1,500 in the "Building Flashy Websites with JavaFX" path (second prize = $1,000, third prize = $500)!

The camp runs through August 14th, so there is still plenty of time to get involved -- FreshBrain estimates that each complete learning path will take about a week to complete.

So for those of you who know a 13-18-year-old interested in learning some new technology (and who doesn't!) please pass this information along ASAP!

Are you bored over your summer break?  Are you just wasting your time at the computer and looking for something fun to do?

Why not try your hand at developing an online game with Project Darkstar!

Project Darkstar is a scalable service platform that was built specifically for online games, virtual worlds, and social networking applications.  Project Darkstar will help you avoid a range of serious, yet typical problems such as zone overloading, data corruption, and server under-utilization.  The open-source Project Darkstar also enables developers to support new dimensions of play such as evolving virtual worlds and very large scale battlefields.

There are a wealth of resources available at Project Darkstar for both experienced users and those new to online game architecture.  To begin, there is the Project Darkstar Forums where you can get oriented to the architecture, search for answers, and post your questions.  There is also a Project Darkstar Tutorials wiki that is "stacked to the brim with information to help developers navigate through the entire process of installing, running, and developing applications for Project Darkstar," a great place to get up to speed with recently published experiences of the more seasoned members of the Darkstar community.

There is even a Project Darkstar Hands on Lab from this year's JavaOne.  In the HOL participants learn how to build a 3D, multiplayer, capture-the-flag style snowball fighting game from the ground up using Project Darkstar.  This HOL will quickly get you up to speed with Project Darkstar as it covers installation, running the server and clients, message protocol, managed objects, managed references, channels, message processing, logins, matchmaking, chat and more!

As you can see, you can easily spend the remaining weeks of summer building a super cool game within Project Darkstar to show off to your classmates once the Fall semester begins in a few weeks!

Gary Serda, Sun's fantastic OSUM leader, posted a blog for young students that I wanted to share here. The Institute for the Future recently launched the Digital Open, which is an innovation expo for global youth. The Digital Open is a both a community and a competition (with prizes) for youth age 17 and younger that launched April 15 and ends August 15. 

The contest challenges youth around the world "to demonstrate how they are using technology that will change the world -- or just make life a little easier or more fun." Students have the opportunity to share their projects and experiences through several mediums including photos, text, or videos.

The Digital Open is all about free and open technology.  Therefore, all submissions must make use of existing free and open platforms and/or licensing under one of the Digital Open-approved licenses.  For more information watch the video below and check out this site.

There are a bunch of cool prizes up for grabs including a PeeCee Mini Laptop running OpenSolaris as well as a video camera, a solar-powered flashlight, and other cool stuff. 

Projects may be submitted in a wide variety of areas including:

• Software
• Hardware
• Environment
• Media
• Community

And while many of you reading this blog are older than 17 that doesn't mean you can't participate in some capacity -- so please get out and encourage the youth in your community to take part!  Be a resource for youth as they explore their creativity! Often the lessons gained through teaching are far more valuable than any others.

I have no doubt that over the summer break (well not everyone has a summer break from school as I very well know!) many students are experimenting with new technologies that they don't normally have time to play around with while school is in session.  Since most of Sun's technologies are free to download, everyone ought to try their hand at some of the great developer tools such as JavaFX 1.2, NetBeans, and OpenSolaris.

As most of you know, last week the new NetBeans IDE 6.7 was released.  My interest in NetBeans piqued after reading about the new features in 6.7 including support for Zembly and a tight configuration with Project Kenai.  Today I stumbled upon some great NetBeans resources which you can check out here. The landing page has links to dozens of tutorials and screencasts to help you get started with NetBeans.

Do you know of other (FREE!) NetBeans tutorial resources?  If so, please share by posting to the comments below.

Angad Singh is a Campus Ambassador Tech Lead for Sun who made his first trip to JavaOne this year.

Angad has written a series of nine blog postings that completely capture his JavaOne experience.  Between the photos and his writeup he really captures the spirit of the event. 

I highly recommend you click on the links below to read all about his experience.  For those who were unable to attend it really gives you an idea of the great sense of community to be found at Sun -- even amongst those who have never met in person. 

Plan to spend some time digging into these posts as there are lots of great links to JavaOne minutes and other multi-media events Angad participated in. 

1. JavaOne 2009: Roundup
2. JavaOne 2009: The Prelude and the Journey
3. JavaOne 2009: CommunityOne
4. JavaOne 2009: The Pavilion
5. JavaOne 2009: The Conference Floor
6. JavaOne 2009: Keynotes
7. JavaOne 2009: James Gosling Q&A
8. JavaOne 2009: The Parties and Dinners
9. JavaOne 2009: San Francisco Sightseeing Tour

Thanks Angad for this wonderful recap of JavaOne and sharing your experience with the community! 

Hyejin Park is a Sun Campus Ambassador from Korea who attended JavaOne 2009.  She has written a fantastic blog about her experience at JavaOne which I am re-posting here in full. Many thanks to Hyejin for sharing her experience with us.  From her pictures and this posting I can see why she is one of Sun's top Campus Ambassadors!   

My impression of JavaOne
I remember the week before leaving Korea when I couldn't go to sleep fluttering with the thoughts of my trip to San Francisco for JavaOne Conference which I was invited to. Those days seem like yesterday to me, but it's already two weeks past the event. (even though I still can't settle down from the trip. haha). It does seem a little late but I'm organizing them a little by little on Piccasa, blog, etc in order to keep these memories for a long time.

Java! Java! Java!
As I arrived at the conference, it was all about Java. Before Java was born, embodying something under one dimensional graphic on a black command window was the full extent. However, through Java, moving characters started to appear on browser windows, and this made not only Koreans but everyone in the world to drown in the Java's attractiveness, triggering continuous improvements. Nowadays, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that there are no IT products such as laptops, cell phone, servers, etc that does not utilize Java. I think that Sun Microsystems' quick realization of importance in 'open', 'share' and 'community', and effort to improve the technology under these environment were the greatest motivations that enabled continuous improvement of Java.

Open! Open! Open!
I could experience in firsthand that JavaOne, a place that provides thousands of seminars and large number of developers from all over the world share their opinions, was the one responsible for opening up new technology and creating a community to improve it for the better by sharing.

Share! Share! Share!
Keynote speech in the Opening Session which was given by engineers of Sun Microsystems or other famous system engineers from the industry was the best time to encounter the latest technology. Engineers explained how the systems were developed and how they are used in business through actual execution a demo.

The fact that a new programming model 'Cloud Computing' is a new infrastructure of IT at the same time as improving into a motivation of a new business model was very interesting. It was said that 'Cloud Computing' will contribute to making company management methods more efficient through reduction in construction cost of infrastructure, Virtualization technology, etc. Explanation through demonstration of how it is used in actual business in pioneer case of Amazon and Google was a beneficial session which helped in understanding not only the IT side but also the business side. It is a subject that I would definitely want to study if opportunity allows.

Community! Community! Community!
A meaningful events to create relationships with people from related business fields were provided such as meeting with fourteen Campus Ambassadors from different parts of the world, discussion session with James Gosling who is the very first developer of Java programming language and global reception party with developers of JavaFX, OpenSolaris, and engineers in charge of IT systems of prominent companies. Introducing the OSUM community, benefits of subscribing to the community and local cases from Sun Campus Ambassadors currently operating in different parts of the world at OSUM Lounge (Open Source University Meet-up Lounge) to students was a very valuable opportunity.

Furthermore, the events were provided to JavaOne students at no cost, technical session lectures beneficial to students were recommended through student scavenger activity, and helped students participate efficiently in the JavaOne event by providing the schedules ahead of time. Students could easily and more beneficially participate in the JavaOne event through specific schedule made just for students, and enjoy the glory of winning Ipod Touch or SunSpot in the raffle with stamps received in the event. You can have a look at JavaOne Minute containing the interviews with Raffle Winners at HERE.

Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!
I deeply thank Sun Microsystems for providing this amazing opportunity that I will never forget. I specially thank Lin, Gary, David, Tzel, Ganesh, Joonho, Bonghwan, Professor Lee, Keumsuk, Korean Campus Ambassadors and other Campus Ambassadors that were with me. I truly thank God father Gary for taking care of Campus Ambassadors through the program in San Francisco. Eight days in San Francisco has left valuable and unforgettable memories in my life and I would like to share this experience with my friends and members of OSUM(osum.sun.com).

I have shared pictures on Picasa at the moment, so have a look at HERE.

Written by Sun Microsystems 4th Korea Campus Ambassador Leader Hyejin Park(박혜진 from Dongguk Univ.)

Venkat, a student and OSUM Leader at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Karimnagar, India, has posted a blog in OSUM to help those that are new to the group get oriented to the site and the different opportunities that are available.

He describes:

• How to find the OSUM group at your university and start participating in events
• Where to get more information on open-source technologies
• The vast amount of student resources available on OSUM (free online courses, Webinars, Tutorials, Student Discounts on certifications, and more!)
• How to connect with other students from around the world to share ideas and get support

OSUM is truly an amazing resource for students; there is so much great content there and is a Web site EVERY STUDENT should check in on regularly. 

Thanks Venkat for your great post and helping those new to the community.  Keep up the great work!

For anyone who would like to have their Campus Ambassador, student experience with Sun technology, or OSUM-related blog featured here, e-mail me at maijaliisa.burkert(at)sun.com or leave a comment below. P.S. Follow me on Twitter @mburkert to get updates on the latest reviews of Sun's technologies!

On Thursday, June 11 at 1400 UTC, Thomas Ulin, the MySQL Server Director, will host a MySQL University session on the recently announced new MySQL Release model. 

MySQL University is a free online educational program that is open to everyone!  This is a great opportunity for students who are looking to learn more about MySQL.  

To watch live go here, and ensure your browser has a working Flash plugin.  

If you cannot attend live, the session will be recorded and the slides and voice can be viewed as a Flash movie.  All past sessions can be watched by going to the MySQL University home page. Here you can find dozens of invaluable previous sessions in the archive.  

There are more sessions scheduled for the coming weeks.  However, it is subject to change so please check here for the most up-to-date schedule.

• June 25 -- MySQL code contributions (Lenz Grimmer)
• July 2 -- Starring Sakila - a data warehouse mini-tutorial (Roland Bouman)  

Results are finally HERE...

First, thanks to all the participants for your submissions. You made the judges’ work very difficult. Keep up the great work!

We look forward to your participation in our upcoming contests. Stay tuned to this blog to learn about more opportunities for showcasing your talent and win great prizes.

Without further delay, the winners are:


Campus Ambassadors Category

Grand Prize Winner: Kolli Bharath, Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, India (review, project) Second Prize Winners (alphabetically sorted by first name): 1. Aadhar Mittal, Delhi University, India (review, project) 2. Jose Maria Silveira Neto, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Brazil (review, project) 3. Qi Cao, Wuhan University, China (review, project) 4. Vitorio Sassi, UFRGS, Brazil (review, project)   (shared with Ronaldo Prass)

Kolli Bharath

General Students Category

Grand Prize Winner: Tomas Augusto Muller, Universidade de Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil (review, project) Second Prize Winners (alphabetically sorted by first name): 1. Ronaldo Prass, Unisinos, Brazil (review, project)   (shared with Vitorio Sassi) 2. Tejesh Morla, University of Illinois at Springfield, USA (review, project) 3. Varun Bhatia, University of Delhi, India (review, project)

Tomas Augusto Muller

The two grand prize winners will each get $500, and each of the second prize winners in both categories will receive $250. We will be sending you an email soon regarding prize shipment.

CONGRATULATIONS  to  all !!!