I became a professor by accident. In college, I was good at math and always taught someone… it eventually got more serious. I started teaching private math classes while still in the first grade… by the time I was 18, I was an instructor for programming courses. I think my first course was Clipper :-)

In 1994, I became a teacher of logic and programming techniques as well as programming languages I and II. Teacher of algorithms, Cobol and C. Since then, I have become seriously interested in education and impressed by how quickly people learn. I confess that teaching programming is not easy, learning either. With some practice, it gets better, but I never felt content… I continue to look for new ways to teach programming. In recent years, I taught Python. A language I like a lot and use every day.

This week, I also stumbled upon the One Laptop per Child project page by accident. I had heard a lot about this project and decided to read more. The technical community always complains that you can’t do much with this laptop and other things. They are looking for developers for the platform, which is Linux, but running on a very lightweight machine by today’s standards. I couldn’t resist downloading the image and testing it out. I remembered the dark days of Linux trying to set up a Belgian keyboard in X. It had been a long time since I’d had so much work configuring something so silly. After ignoring the text on the project Wiki and running Qemu correctly, the image worked with the network, but still without sound. Well, the sound is not working yet, but I couldn’t wait any longer to test Invasores on OLPC, or its image. And guess what? It worked without changing a single line!

One more point for Python. Also, OLPC is based on Fedora, but uses a different graphical interface, Sugar. I’m still trying to resolve some issues with the screen size of the game, but even not running in full screen, the game works without any problem. I’ll release it soon only for OLPC.

Back to OLPC, they need programming kits, including creating simple games. Since Invasores’ sources are in Portuguese, I hope it will help someone understand how to make a very simple game.

Some people have criticized OLPC, summarizing the project as just technology. But reading their wiki, you can see that technology is currently the focus, but the goal of the project is to provide better education to millions of excluded people. Many are worried about more serious problems, such as the lack of teachers in schools, electricity and access to water. This is also real and very important. My only criticism is the relentless search for silver bullets. OLPC does not intend to solve all the world’s problems. This project is just a contribution; other actions must be taken to improve life for everyone.

I identified with the project because once, talking to friends, we wondered how many talents were being lost in misery. Imagine: you’re a programming genius, but your only equipment is a pushcart. What are the chances of accidentally discovering your talent? How many mathematicians, chemists, physicists and biologists have we lost due to these lack of opportunities?

A computer for each child will give millions of children access to the Internet, texts, sounds and graphics. This alone justifies the project for me. If only 0.1% of the children who receive the laptop change their lives, it means that we would need 1000 laptops to save a single child. Calculating the costs: $250 x 1000 = $250,000. A quarter million dollars to integrate or reconnect a person with modern society. A person with access to education and work can reverse the cycle of poverty for several generations; I’ve seen this happen many times in Brazil. I also believe that we can achieve much greater success than 0.1%. Despite many laptops falling into the black market, being stolen or damaged quickly, I believe it will be a mark on these children’s lives.

Something that left me worried was the lack of Internet in Brazil. The latest numbers I read showed something like 14 or 20 million internauts in the country. Although this number is growing, it still shows our delay and poor distribution of income. How many public schools have access to the Internet? In the 90s, the problem was having a phone. Now it’s getting Internet. In Manaus, the situation is critical; plans are sold as broadband for 200 or 300Kb/s. We urgently need Internet in our schools. OLPC without Internet will be quite limited, but that won’t invalidate the possible gains of the project. We need more education and access to the Internet. A great country has big problems. My megalomaniac dream is to transform Amazonas into a new India :-)

As I said, it won’t solve all the world’s problems, but it’s a positive effort. It’s very important to criticize; different views are always welcome. Just don’t forget that the project is about children and education; the laptop is just a detail.