SHS Developers Club introduces computer science lessons

Building a mobile application requires two things: an idea and a means to execute that idea.
At the Application Developers Club’s first few meetings in October, ideas were aplenty. However, when these ideas were ready for implementation, club members with little programming experience had little to contribute.

“Instead of having them simply sit around, why not fill the gaps in their knowledge about coding?” club co-preisdent Sujay Khandekar recalls asking himself.

For the past two weeks, the club has hosted tutorials during Wednesday lunches during which students learn the programming language Java.

Vice president Kabir Chandrasekhar first introduced the idea of offering coding lessons when the club’s weekly lunch meetings grew unproductive. Instead of utilizing meeting times for programming collaboration, members would simply lounge around and maybe explain their ideas on an abstract level.

With just nine of its members familiar with Java, Python and C, the club welcomes the possibility of a greater number of capable programmers.

The instructor of these sessions, senior Evan Ye, has taught a few foundational concepts but intends to introduce abstract ones in the future.

“Teaching others my knowledge? I love it!” Ye said. “It’s really fun to formulate your skills in an interesting, digestible way. I also try to incite creativity and passion, and it’s really rewarding when students succeed.”

Ye plans to teach students a broad understanding of Java. From basic lessons such as syntax and semantics to algorithmic problem-solving and application development, students who grasp Ye’s lessons will enter AP Computer Science with a head start.

“I think this teaching experience allows students to get an exposure to the underside of our growing technological world. Also, it’s useful to attend these short classes to gauge your affinity and interest in this complicated field,” Ye said.

The club hopes to influence more students to take computer science courses and, in turn, contribute to the mobile applications that the club is developing.