Who would be better at teaching people how to get code in formation than Beyoncé? That’s what one educator asked herself when she was looking for a way to teach JavaScript.
While the singing superstar is not directly teaching people how to code, computer science educator Emily Thomforde is teaching Bey Script, a computational metaphor she developed that uses Beyoncé to teach nontechnical educators such as English and history teachers in New York City how to use JavaScript and teach it to their students. The three-session course is held throughout the year.
In computer science, a “metaphor” helps a user understand how certain computational procedures work by using an entity the user is familiar with. “If you imagine Beyoncé were an object we’re using in JavaScript, her ‘methods’ are things that she can do, like sing and dance,” Thomforde told Motherboard. “I relate all these arcane, technical, traditionally geeky things into ways my audience can relate to, and we found Beyonce was super-relatable.”
In the course, Thomforde teaches Javascript concepts such as “Properties” using things everyone can easily visualize, like Beyonce’s internationally revered and illusive hair. “Now we have ‘beyonce.hair’, since hair is a property of Beyoncé. What’s a thing about her hair that can change? Now we have ‘beyonce.hair.color’. Then we can set it equal to something: ‘beyonce.hair.color=red.'”
The Bey Script course is part of the New York City Foundation for Computer Science Education’s (CSNYC) 10-year, $80 million initative to provide every public school student with computer science education. Thomforde is currently writing the curriculum for Vidcode, an online platform that teaches teenagers to code. In May, Vidcode collaborated with the New York City Department of Education to host a hackathon event where 150 kids were tasked with using Vidcode to learn how to use Javascript to make a video that helps abandoned animals currently living in shelters.
With President Obama pledging $4 billion to make sure every kid across America gets computer science education, it may not be long before kids are making Lemonade on their computers.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.