Physics and Astronomy
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General Training courses News | ||||||||||
NewsCourses at CERNI must apologise about the on-again/off-again character of this entry. [29th August 2007] Things were looking quite good during 2006/7, most notably because we had a proactive schedule of course dates at long last. Then the two people involved most closely in organising these courses left the technical training department. The new administration wanted price cuts from trainers, which is a constant and understandable aspect of business life everywhere; and I came up with some suggestion. But then, I'm afraid, performance targets were introduced into the negotiations. Performance in course delivery is simply not measurable with any practical and feasible scheme; and of course, anyone who's been lecturing as long as I have is going to find such a request a little bit insulting. We in the UK have long experience of example of how simplistic performance targets can ruin both education and health. So I'm afraid that's it. There will be no more of my courses at CERN. Perhaps I'll see some of you at DESY or RAL. I wish you well in the exciting years to come. And thanks to everyone who has helped me share a little part of one of the most interesting places on the planet. Book offerHaving said for years that I would never do it, I have written a book on Analysis and Design (ISBN: 0-321-26317-0). If you have attended one of my OOA&D courses during the last few years, the book represents an expanded version of what was covered there. If you attended a course many years ago, the book would represent an update as well. So, should it be of interest to those who've attended the courses, I would like to make available a copy of the book at cost price. I have greatly enjoyed giving these courses to the physics and astronomy communities. Indeed, the comments and questions over the last 12 years have undoubtedly shaped the material. To save the cost of postage, if you're visiting CERN we've arranged that the CERN IT bookshop has copies at a discount. If you are not planning to visit CERN then I'm afraid we'll have to resort to posting the book. Please email me with your name and address, and the venue and year of the course you attended. I can then let you know the cost and the address (for cheques) or bank details (for bank transfers). I'm afraid that I'm not set up for credit cards, PayPal, etc. The cost is going to be 26 UKP (retail price 39.99 UKP) plus recorded delivery postage for 1200g (it's a fairly thick book -- the web page or Amazon give more information on the book's contents). If you're not based in the UK, then I guess we're stuck with bank transfer or international money order. References and source codeI have updated the references and the sources for the Advanced C++ course. (If you were on the introductory C++ course more than eighteen months ago, then the sources for that might contain updates.) C++ "Traps and Pitfalls" listI have the 1st draft of the list of the traps and pitfalls from the Advanced C++ course. Apologies to those people to whom I promised this; it has taken far longer than I though it would. If you recall any favourites that I seem to have forgotten, do please email me if you can. The list is over on my other site. I'm trying to drum up publicity for a book web site. I'm sure I would be wrong if I entertained the thought that the publisher could be following the well-known spaghetti-marketing tactic of the publishing business (throw it at the wall and see if it sticks.)
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