Computer Science | Grinnell College

April 23 CS Table location: JRC 224B, noon.

Eric S. Raymond’s "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" is a classic essay on software development and open source communities. This writing was later turned into a book, but the original essay (with some later additions) is available online.

The full essay is a bit longer than some of our regular readings for CS Table (around 18 pages), but it is still a fairly quick read. You can find the essay at: http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/.

If you are interested in how this essay was received, you may enjoy reading some of the responses to this essay under “Commentary and Argument” on this page: http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/.

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00–12:50pm. Most CS Tables for the spring semester will meet in JRC 224B inside the Marketplace, though a small number will be in an alternate location, so watch each week for the location. Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department (sign in at the Marketplace front desk).

This week's discussion topic was suggested by an alumna, who writes:

Recently an NPM package author handed over control of his open source project to a stranger who promised to maintain the package for future users. The stranger added malicious code to the package, which was then downloaded by millions of users. This raises questions about responsibility in the open source world. What responsibilities does the owner of an open source project hold? What responsibilities are up to the user? What can developers do to utilize open source projects in a safe and secure manner?

There are two recommended readings for the CS Table discussion; the first is an account of the recent event we’ll discuss, and the second is a perspective on security and open source from Bruce Schneier, written in 1999.

• Check your repos... Crypto-coin-stealing code sneaks into fairly popular NPM lib. Thomas Claburn. The Register. 26 Nov 2018.
• Open Source and Security. Bruce Schneier. Counterplane Security and schneier.com. 15 Sept 1999.

You may also find these resources helpful or informative as you prepare for our discussion:

• Core Infrastructure Initiative. The Linux Foundation.
• What is NPM and why do I need it? Stack Overflow thread.
• The GitHub issue for the exploit that was discovered.

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00–12:50pm in JRC 224C (inside the Marketplace). Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department (sign in at the Marketplace front desk).

This semester, we are using Ushahidi as a platform in section one of CSC 207. Ushahidi is an open-source crowdmapping program that was originally designed for monitoring election violence in Kenya. Its design allows anonymous posting of geolocated events (with optional pictures), using Web, SMS, and more. Since its original design, Ushahidi has been used for a wide range of things, from mapping potholes in LA to burger joints in Germany to emergency response needs during some recent floods in Canada. We've even started a few soon-to-be-announced projects on campus using Ushahidi.

The folks at Ushahidi want to make sure that it's available to anyone. And so they are working on making sure that translations of the platform are available in most languages. Information on the translation project is available at https://wiki.ushahidi.com/display/WIKI/Localization+and+Translation+-+How+to. The list of languages and their status can be found at https://www.transifex.com/explore/languages/.

Grinnell College CS has a strong commitment to free and open source software (FOSS), and we encourage our students to help with FOSS projects as they are able. If you have the knowledge to contribute to this translation project, please consider doing so.

On Thursday, February 16, Martin Dluhos 2012 will give an overview of the history of free software:

I will talk about the ideas behind the free software movement and open source movement, tell a little bit about the history and evolution of those movements, and mention some of the organizations that are involved in promoting free software. I will conclude with describing the accomplishments of the free software movement, particularly the GNU project.

Refreshments will be served at 4:15 p.m. in the Computer Science Commons (Noyce 3817). The talk, "Free software and open source software," will follow at 4:30 p.m. in Noyce 3821. Everyone is welcome to attend!

At CS Table on Friday, 13 November 2009, we will consider economics of Open-Source software. Our primary reading will be a short piece from Joel on Software and an optional piece by Bruce Perens. However, participants are welcome to bring other pertinent readings.

Spolsky, Joel (2002, June 12). Strategy Letter V. Joel on Software. Web page at http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/StrategyLetterV.html

Perens, Bruce (2005). The Emerging Economic Paradigm of Open Source Software. Web page at https://www.ojphi.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1470/1385.

Grinnell College's CS Table is a weekly gathering of folks on campus (students, faculty, staff, alums, etc.) to talk about issues relating to computer science. CS Table meets each Friday at noon in JRC 224A, the Day Public Dining Room (PDR) in the Joe Rosenfeld '25 Center (JRC). All are welcome, although computer science students and faculty are particularly encouraged to attend.