Paideia Academy MUMPS and VISTA Training: October 16-19 in Seattle, Washington
Owen Hermsen
Course Descriptions, Registration Details, and References for More
Information
Dear Hardhats, MUMPS and VISTA Community Members, and Interested
Members of the Public,
It is with great excitement that we invite you to join us for the
second Paideia Academy in-person MUMPS and VISTA training session.
Over four days we will come together to begin in-depth study of VISTA
programming topics in a friendly, collaborative setting. This session
serves as the kickoff for our extended distance-learning program
intended to train new VISTA professionals and sharpen the skills of
existing Hardhats. Following the success of the last year's pilot
program in MUMPS, we are introducing a new level of training that has
been in great demand: Fileman, the database management system
fundamental to any VISTA setup.
During the first two days (October 16th and 17th) we will teach
Paideia 301, Basic MUMPS. The last two days (October 18th and 19th)
will be devoted to File Manager (AKA Fileman). Some attendees may wish
to participate as mentors for the first two days, and then as students
for the new FileMan class. We welcome attendees to join us for either
or both sessions (but please see the Fileman course description for
prerequisites for that section).
Course Descriptions
Paideia 301: Basic MUMPS
This course introduces students to MUMPS, the programming language on
which VISTA is built. The unique nature of the language, it's
structure and employment for practical programming tasks will all be
introduced. Following lessons learned with our first round of students
(graduating this month), the course will be taught in a hands-on
manner featuring simple programming exercises for students, with
guidance from instructors and peers on a weekly basis. After the
introductory two-day session in Seattle, students gather online for an
hour and a half each week for lessons and live assistance with
exercises. Both complete novices and those with some MUMPS background
will find the course rewarding, and lessons include material aimed at
a variety of skill levels.
During our first run of the course, it was discovered that it takes
the better part of a year to train-up a truly skilled MUMPS programmer
from scratch. Thus, the course has been broken into two sections: 301
(beginning at this Academy and concluding in the Spring) and 302,
Advanced MUMPS Topics (to be taught during a spring Academy session
and a few months thereafter over distance).
Our instructor for this course is Maury Pepper, a 30-year MUMPS
programmer, M-Technology consultant, member of the WorldVistA Board of
Directors, and brave fellow willing to break new ground in MUMPS
education.
Paideia 311: Basic File Manager: Database Design & Programming
Our newest Paideia course, this class will take MUMPS-literate
programmers to the next level of VISTA aptitude, familiarizing them
with File Manager. File Manager (AKA FileMan or Fileman) is VISTA's
database management system, which
1) defines the standards by which all VISTA packages store
information,
2) defines the user interface conventions VISTA users can rely on
throughout VISTA,
3) provides the system calls all VISTA packages use to query or
manipulate the VISTA database, and
4) provides options for advanced users to directly query and
manipulate that database within the limits of their authorization.
This course immerses MUMPS programmers in Fileman's architecture to
teach them how to create databases and to extend, query, or manipulate
those databases using Fileman's application programming interface
(API).
Much as our MUMPS curriculum has been broken into two shorter classes,
this is the first in a three-course, three-quarter track that teaches
Fileman for MUMPS programmers. The second (Paideia 312: Intermediate
File Manager: Application Development & Use) immerses students in
their users' perspective to teach them how to effectively use
Fileman's user interface and how to use its user-oriented API to
create applications. The third (Paideia 313: Advanced File Manager:
Database Theory & Administration) immerses students in database theory
to teach them how to use Fileman's more esoteric features as well as
how to improve their database designs.
Prerequisites: MUMPS literacy is a prerequisite for this class,
demonstrated either by completion of our MUMPS 301 program or
equivalent MUMPS education or experience. This course is not a
suitable introduction to Fileman for non-programmers, who will need
MUMPS training first. If you would like to join the class without
having completed Paideia MUMPS, please contact us first to discuss
your experience and whether this is the right fit for you.
Instructor Rick Marshall will be teaching this class. Rick has taught
Fileman to both governmental agencies and independent adopters,
vendors and academics for decades, and was a national developer for
the VA working on Fileman and Kernel.
Location
University Heights Community Center, 5031 University Way NE, Seattle,
Washington 98105-4341
Pricing
This Academy session (the two day in-person class) is available for
$200 per person. After completing the in-person course, students may
join the distance learning program for $250 for the quarter, materials
included.
We offer training at this improbably-low cost because it is central to
our nonprofit mission to help spread VISTA expertise and strengthen
existing professionals' skills.
How to Register
Registration is simple: just send an email to
con...@vistaexpertise.net with the following information:
Your name (your legal name and/or whatever you prefer to be called)
Your organizational affiliation(s)
Your email address, phone number, and mailing address
The class(es) that you will be joining in Seattle (the MUMPS class or
the Fileman class)
Your VISTA experience to date
Anything that you are especially hoping to learn during the class
(either the session in Seattle or the full course)
Your information will be kept private unless you choose to make it
available to the other students.
Class sizes are limited to ensure quality of instruction for our
students, so please contact us soon to indicate interest, even if you
are not totally sure that you can or will attend.
Payment Details
The rates for the in-person session for is $200 per person, per class.
You may choose to also pay for the distance learning course ($250 for
all 3 months) now as well, or you can wait until the end of the in-
person class. We would appreciate payment as soon as it is convenient
for you, but can accept payment in-person if necessary.
Please mail payment to the following address:
Paideia Academy
c/o VISTA Expertise Network
819 North 49th Street, Suite 203
Seattle, WA 98103
We would appreciate payment as soon as it is convenient for you, but
can accept payment in-person if necessary. Receipts are available upon
request.
More information
For more information on classes (and details on accommodations and
travel), the venue etc., please join our Google group at
http://groups.google.com/group/paideiaforum
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact
assistant director Owen Hermsen at owen.h...@vistaexpertise.net.
We look forward to seeing you all in Seattle!