Unit 3: PROGRAMMING AND NETWORK ADMINISTRATION

Thirty years old and still in use, C is holding its own against newer and more glamorous programming languages. They may be easier to learn and use, but C is part of the infrastructure and the culture of modern computing, deeply embedded in systems software and applications which no one would dream of replacing. It is also accepted and understood by all the purveyors of proprietary and open source development tools.

Newer languages tend to draw heavily on C, and although it is by no means necessary to learn C first, it provides a good basis for approaching C++, Java and others. As a generic, non-proprietary language, it is a good career foundation skill. It equips developers with a lingua franca for sharing and discussing programming ideas with their peers.

C allows developers to get much closer to the machine than higher-level languages, and so programs written in other languages will often contain C code. What makes it special is that C is hardware- and software-independent, and applications should be portable, although the different suppliers' extensions to C, and the fact that code may have been written for the characteristics of a particular machine, can limit portability in practice.

Welcome to the Speakup Project!

Speakup started out as my attempt to make GNU/Linux accessible to myself mostly, with a speech synthesizer. My favorite synthesizer is the DoubleTalk-PC so that's what I concentrated on. Once I had a very basic system running I decided to let a couple of other people use it to see if it was worthwhile making it available to the general public. The response from those folks was overwhelming and very gratifying. Of course, they all had their own ideas about what they'd like to see Speakup be able to do. Well, that's history as they say.

As with most projects, it started to snowball (that's what I get for living in Canada) and Speakup grew and a number of other projects were identified as being needed for a truly accessible system. We have a long way to go before one could say that the blind community is on a "level playing field", but we're working toward it. My ultimate goal is to make the computer accessible with speech from power up to shut down.

Got a question on learning a particular language? Or perhaps you're stuck on a piece of code that just won't do what you want, and you'd like to bounce it off some other programmers to see if they can spot the problem, or maybe you're a grizzled veteran at code-writing, and you're willing to share your expertise with those not so experienced? If so, join our Blind Programming discussion forum, a place where Blind and Visually-impaired programmers (novice or expert) can exchange resources, ideas, knowledge, and experience in any programming-related field!

Yet another extremely useful list to be a part of is the JAWS For Windows Scripts List. This informative list discusses the secrets, tips, tricks, and hints on writing, modifying, and learning the JAWS scripting language. Really, it isn't as difficult as you think, and once you've spent some time around novices and experts on this list, you'll be able to tap into the hidden power of the JAWS screen reader! If you've got programming questions, try BlindProgramming.com!

Blind programmers could compete quite nicely in the IT workplace when the mainframe was king. But today, as graphically oriented Windows tool kits displace the text-based mainframe development, blind programmers are facing difficulties. When PCs arrived in the 1980s, blind programmers could still do their work because the DOS operating system was text-based. The text could be read with screen-reader software. But with the arrival of Windows graphical user interfaces, which couldn't be converted to text, blind programmers were initially locked out of the newer PC and client/server worlds.

That door was partially reopened for blind programmers when screen-reader software was adapted to convert some, but not all, Windows graphical interfaces into screen-readable text. But there was a catch. Screen readers could convert graphical interfaces to text only if certain programming conventions were followed. And as Windows interface technology raced ahead, software companies increasingly took non-standard programming shortcuts in their software developer tool kits, making some items on the screen invisible to screen-reader software.

A technology specialist at the American Foundation for the Blind says: "There haven't been many blind programmers who have broken into the Windows world. In our database of 130 blind programmers, maybe a dozen have gone into Windows development. The majority are working on mainframes."

Network or computer systems administrators design, install, and support an organization's LAN (local-area network), WAN (wide-area network), network segment, Internet, or intranet system. They provide day-to-day onsite administrative support for software users in a variety of work environments, including professional offices, small businesses, government, and large corporations. They are responsible for the efficient use of networks by organizations, and maintain network hardware and software, analyze problems, and monitor the network to ensure its availability to system users. Administrators may also plan, coordinate, and implement network security measures. Furthermore, they monitor and adjust performance of existing networks and continually survey the current computer site to determine future network needs. Administrators also troubleshoot problems as reported by users and automated network monitoring systems, and make recommendations for enhancements in the implementation of future servers and networks.

I saw an advertisement for a course yesterday that said: "Be a Network Administrator and earn $87K a year!". I'm not sure whether that kind of salary is possible, but there's no doubt that being a network administrator is a great job. It also needs a lot of hard work, and that's what those ads aren't telling people. Taking a course and passing a few tests will not guarantee you a career. Competing for a job against someone with no qualifications at all might give you an advantage, but if you're competing for a job with experienced network administrators, you may not have a chance.

I'm not saying that you can't become a network administrator without experience, but to do so you'd better be willing to eat, breathe and sleep networking. If you think you're going to graduate from Uncle Bob's Discount School of Computer Certifications and land a high paying job, you should think again. You do, however, have a good chance of landing a helpdesk job and starting in a good place to learn.

You have to read as many books as you are tall, and re-install a server operating system so many times that you could do it in your sleep. That's all about as interesting as licking stamps. The real trick is fixing your mistakes and not giving up. I've effectively screwed up everything I've touched. It's putting it back together that makes you a network administrator. Well, that and successfully taking credit for fixing problems that you really created in the first place....

Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia, recently became the first university in the world to modify Cisco Certified Network Associate courses for visually impaired students. This program, which covers the same content as the CCNA course taken by sighted students, started in late 2002 with four visually impaired students and grew four-fold to the 16 it has today.

The program was developed with $80,000 in equipment and support from Cisco Systems Inc. and the Association for the Blind of Western Australia. Curtin now gives students with even less than 5% vision the chance to study Cisco's CCNA curriculum using tools designed and modified for the blind.

"This is a tremendous step forward for us, and Cisco has been very supportive, providing plenty of equipment to work with," Professor Murray said. "Visually impaired students are not always given the opportunity to study technology and to walk away with an industry certification that places them on an equal footing with their sighted peers."

The Network Administrator's Recommendations to all Members of Staff:

• When the photocopier or fax machine doesn't work, call computer

support. There's electronics in it, right?

• When the printer won't print, re-send the job at least 20 times. Print jobs

frequently just disappear into the cosmos for no reason.

• When the printer still won't print after 20 tries, send the job to all 68

printers in the office. One of them is bound to work.

• When the administrator asks you whether you've installed any new software

on this computer, say no. It's nobody's business what you've got on your computer.

• If the space bar on your keyboard doesn't work, blame it on the

network. Keyboards work much better with half a pound of crumbs, nail clippings, and big sticky drops of Coke under the keys.

• When you get the message saying "Are you sure?" click on that 'Yes' button

as fast as you can. Hell, if you weren't sure, you wouldn't be doing it, would you?

• When you need to change the toner cartridge, call the helpdesk. Changing a

toner cartridge is an extremely complex task, and Hewlett-Packard recommends that it should be performed only by a professional engineer with a master's degree in nuclear physics.

• Our official title is something like Support Specialist or Network

Administrator, not 'geek' or 'nerd', or 'techie'.