SDN Program News

OSUM Webinar: Project Darkstar Deep Dive

2009-10-14T08:00:00-07:00

Students: You're invited to attend a presentation on Project Darkstar, an open-source software platform for online games, on October 21 from 10 to 11am EDT. Read more.

Not yet a member of OSUM? Here's how to sign up.

OSUM in India Reaches 31,000 Members

2009-10-09T10:05:34-07:00

Rajesh Umashankar informs us that Sun Open Source University Meet-up (OSUM) groups in India have reached 31,000 members since the recent Software Freedom Day activities. Congratulations to all the Sun campus ambassadors and OSUM club members in India!

Campus Ambassadors Report on Software Freedom Day

2009-09-22T12:06:27-07:00

Sun campus ambassadors are working with community members in Open Source University Meetup (OSUM) clubs to sponsor more than 300 events in more than 30 countries for Software Freedom Day (SFD). Read about what's happening on the Sun campus ambassador blogs. Additional posts are available on planets.sun.com.

Sun's OSUM Student Clubs Prepare for Software Freedom Day (Sept. 19)

2009-09-17T15:38:30-07:00

Students affiliated with Sun's Open Source University Meetup (OSUM) are preparing more than 300 community events in more than 30 countries for Software Freedom Day (SFD) on or about September 19.

Learn more from this Sun press release and from the OSUM SFD site. Congratulations to all the Sun campus ambassadors, OSUM student leaders, and OSUM members worldwide for putting together this community-based effort.

Support Software Freedom Day: Sept. 19, 2009

2009-09-02T09:40:39-07:00

Change your world on September 19, 2009. Find an event near you.

Java Programming (With Passion!): Register and Start Learning Today

2009-08-01T10:28:19-07:00

Java technology evangelist Sang Shin is currently teaching the free online course Java Programming (With Passion!). If you're a high-school or college student with some extra time on your hands, try your skills in this self-paced course. Older students are also welcome.

To register, send a blank email to this address.

In this free online course, students are expected to do weekly homework after studying the presentation material and doing the hands-on lab. Students can also ask and answer questions on the class email alias.

For more information, visit the course web sites:

Interview With Ramin Mohammadi, Student Winner of the JavaFX Coding Challenge

2009-07-22T15:59:01-07:00

Chhandomay Mandal interviews Ramin Mohammadi, who won in the student segment of the JavaFX Coding Challenge. Listen to the interview on Blog Talk Radio or read the PDF transcript.

JavaOne Conference Round-up

2009-06-24T14:52:43-07:00

Angad Singh, a tech lead in Sun's Campus Ambassador program, has posted nine blog entries related to his week at the 2009 JavaOne conference in San Francisco. With dozens of links and more than 6000 photos and videos to capture his and his colleagues' impressions of the city and the Conference, he may yet win an award for most enthusiastic attendee response. Go, Angad!

EduConnection Update: April 2009 Issue Is Out

2009-04-17T09:46:35-07:00

The latest issue of EduConnection Update contains articles and links of interest to students and faculty. Take a look.

Tutorial: How to Install OpenSolaris on VirtualBox

2009-04-13T08:20:42-07:00

Douglas Ramiro, Sun campus ambassador at Catholic University, Brasília, Brazil, is writing a series of blog postings on how to install OpenSolaris on VirtualBox. Take a look at Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of the series so far.

Learn more about Sun's offerings for college and university students: the OSUM and Campus Ambassador programs, internships at Sun, training for students, and Sun's portal for student developers.

Notes From Sun's Education and Research Conference, Berlin

2009-03-30T08:20:03-07:00

Blog reports are coming in from Sun's European Education and Research Conference, which ended Sunday, March 29, in Berlin, Germany. Andy McFarlane and Thomas Kruse have written up some notes and links to videos in the conference blog. Alper Celik and Gökhan Dogan from KTH Stockholm have additional notes and videos on their blog.

If you'd like to be involved in future education and research conferences in your part of the world, get connected by joining the Sun EduConnection Community or by finding a local Open Source University Meetup (OSUM) group near you.

JavaFX Coding Challenge Includes Prizes for Student Developers

2009-03-23T08:23:36-07:00

Submit an innovative rich media application using JavaFX 1.1 and NetBeans IDE 6.5 to the JavaFX Coding Challenge.

The contest, which runs March 23 to May 29, has top three prizes of USD $25,000, $10,000, and $5,000. Students can compete for these top prizes. Additionally, there are special prizes just for students -- three top student applications will receive USD $1,500 each. There are 100 honorable mention prizes in the contest.

Learn more about the JavaFX Coding Challenge. Best of luck!

Note: This contest is not open to Sun employees, including Sun campus ambassadors.

Sun Campus Ambassador Shows Sun SPOTs in Action

2009-03-11T09:15:29-07:00

Gökhan Dogan, Sun campus ambassador at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, has posted five videos (each under five minutes) that illustrate the hardware and system in use in the WaterWell project.

According to the WaterWell site, "the primary objective of this project is to produce a feasible and practical wireless sensor network for monitoring water quality." The team is using Sun Small Programmable Object Technology, better known as Sun SPOT, for its wireless sensors.

Take a look at the videos and the student team that produced them. Learn more about Sun SPOT and Sun's Campus Ambassador program.

Opportunities for Student Projects

2009-02-18T08:27:45-08:00

On the Sun Student Project Opportunities page, students and faculty from universities across the globe can find software and systems projects in which to participate, and project engineers can find students and faculty interested in contributing to their project. Explore the Sun Student Project Opportunities page.

Note: This page is hosted on Sun's Project Kenai infrastructure.

New Free Online Course: JavaFX Programming (With Passion!) Begins Jan. 30

2009-01-15T16:41:37-08:00

Java technology evangelist Sang Shin will begin teaching the 15-week free online course JavaFX Programming (With Passion!) on January 30, 2009.

To register, send a blank email to this address.

This free online course is much like a regular college course: Students are expected to do weekly homework after studying the presentation material and doing the hands-on lab. Students can also ask and answer questions on the class email alias.

For more information, visit the course web sites:

Jazoon'09 in Switzerland Seeks Young Developers for June Tech Talks

2009-01-14T16:10:45-08:00

Bruno Ghisi points out that Jazoon09 is looking for developers under the age of 26 to submit technical talks. If you are chosen, you can attend Jazoon, held in Zurich, Switzerland, from June 22 to 25, free of charge. Learn more about the Jazoon Rookie competition.

Sun Campus Ambassadors Among Winners in Student Views and Reviews Contest

2008-11-25T13:47:41-08:00

Sun has announced the winners in the second Student Views and Reviews contest, in which students wrote reviews that highlight creative uses of MySQL and GlassFish technologies.

Among the winners are Sun campus ambassadors Kolli Bharath of Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, India; Aadhar Mittal of Delhi University, India; Jose Maria Silveira Neto of Universidade Federal do Ceará, Brazil; Qi Cao of Wuhan University, China; and Vitorio Sassi of UFRGS, Brazil. Congratulations to all the winners!

Learn more about Sun's offerings for college and university students: internships, the Open-Source University Meetup (OSUM) program, the Campus Ambassador program, the Sun Academic Initiative program, Sun's portal for student developers, and the Project Kenai wiki for Sun Student Project Opportunities.

Student Reviews Contest: Only One Week Left to Enter

2008-10-15T14:49:11-07:00

Students: Use MySQL database and GlassFish application server to develop a web application and submit a review by October 25. You may win a grand prize of a $500 Visa debit card or a prize of a $250 Visa debit card. Learn more.

BusinessWeek.com Takes Note of Campus Ambassador Program

2008-10-03T10:21:02-07:00

Sun campus ambassador Will St. Clair and Sun VP Joe Hartley were featured in the article "Brand Reps: Not Your Father's College Job," published in BusinessWeek.com this week. (Thanks to Rebecca Lui and Conrad Geiger for the pointer.)

Note: The article mistakenly named The Observatory as a place where Sun campus ambassadors blog about their activities. The aggregated site for ambassador blogs is the Campus Ambassadors planet.

Learn more about Sun's offerings for college and university students: internships, the Campus Ambassador program, the Sun Academic Initiative program, and Sun's portal for student developers.

News From Sun Campus Ambassadors Worldwide

2008-09-30T10:15:07-07:00

Sun's Campus Ambassador program has been mentioned in some recent publications. Sylvain Duloutre points to a recent publication by ambassador Julien Canquelain of Institut Nationale des Sciences Appliquées (INSA) in Lyon, France, in the July edition of INSA's magazine. Sun's OpenSolaris evangelist Jim Grisanzio encountered many students, including some campus ambassadors, at both Beijing Jiaotong University and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in China.

Among the award winners for Sun's 2008 Open Source Community Innovation Awards are campus ambassadors Shampavman Chengeri and Ricardo Ayres Severo for OpenSolaris. A podcast is available on the awards page, under the heading "Campus Ambassadors & Academic Winners."

Campus ambassadors' reports about the events they hosted to celebrate the spirit of open source at Software Freedom Day (SFD) are still coming in. Here are a few in English:

Shan Wang, GuangDong University of Foreign Studies, China

Vitorio Faria Correa Sassi, Porto Alegre, Brazil; more SFD events here

Souvik Dasgupta, Panjab University, India; additional photos here

Avinash Joshi, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

Qi Cao, Wuhan University, China

Aakriti Agarwal, NTU

Sushant Kumar, SMVD University

Shashank Shekhar

Rohendra Singh

Mohammed Sanaulla, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, India

K.S. Chan, City University of Hong Kong

Weipeng Zhong, Shantou University

Ezequiel Singer, Argentina

Many more SFD reports are available in Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, and other languages. Keep up with Sun's campus ambassadors by reading their blog postings.

Learn more about Sun's offerings for college and university students: internships, the Campus Ambassador program, the Sun Academic Initiative program, and Sun's portal for student developers.

Student Developer Contest: Code for Freedom 2008

2008-09-24T17:12:54-07:00

Are you a full-time student in a university in India? If so, you may be eligible to participate in Sun's Code for Freedom contest. Learn more.

Sun Student Network Wiki: Projects for Students

2008-09-23T11:30:41-07:00

On the Sun Student Network Wiki, students and faculty from universities across the globe can find software projects to participate in, and project engineers can find students and faculty interested in contributing to their project. Explore the Student Network Wiki.

Update (Feb. 18, 2009): The contents of this wiki site have moved to the Project Kenai infrastructure. You can now find information about student projects on the Sun Student Project Opportunities page.

Student Central Goes Live

2008-09-19T11:11:58-07:00

Sun, a company that innovates, leads with actions, and shares technology to drive economic and social progress worldwide, offers students the technology, tools, and opportunity to achieve success -- in school, career, and life. Check out Student Central.

Getting Started With the NetBeans BlueJ Plugin

2008-09-18T13:41:23-07:00

This article gets you started using the NetBeans BlueJ plugin by loading
an existing project, and then creating a new project that uses
drag-and-drop features to create a graphical user interface (GUI).

News From Sun Campus Ambassadors Worldwide

2008-09-17T11:50:54-07:00

Sun campus ambassadors have been busy organizing open-source events as part of this year's Software Freedom Day, to be held in many cities on or about September 20. Take a look at the locations where you can join Sun communities in celebrating the open-source movement with talks, meet-ups, and installfests. Follow along as campus ambassadors describe the preparations and success stories on their blogs.

As always, campus ambassadors are busy working with technologies and sharing what they learn. Here are a few recent blog postings:

Silveira Neto, campus ambassador at Federal University of Ceará in Brazil, has posted a tutorial on running GlassFish on Linux and another on creating a comic balloon in JavaFX technology.

Wei-Peng Zhong of Shantou University in China wrote about his first technical talk about the Campus Ambassador program, Java technology, the NetBeans IDE, and the Solaris Operating System.

Jay Mahadeokar of Shri Ramdeobaba Kamla Nehru Engineering College (SRKNEC), Nagpur, India, has been busy since July organizing events on the SRKNEC campus with his colleague Vasusen Patil. Most recently, Jay wrote about the two faces of a campus ambassador: "the very social, active, public speaker type" who talks about technology 24x7 and the "geeky kind of a guy who learns and learns" about technology. Take a look.

Avinash Joshi of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kollam, Kerala, India, has provided tips on installing Ubuntu/Linux and Solaris as a dual-boot system and on using GParted to partition your hard disk.

Tirthankar of Pune University, Bangalore, India, writes about his activities with the Student Technology Camp at IEC and the OpenSolaris Open High Availability Cluster (OHAC).

Vasudha Amrit of Manipal Institute of Technology in Manipal, India, hosted a recent talk on Project Glassfish by Sudhir Prabhu, an alumnus of her school. Much to her surprise, nearly 500 people showed up. Read more.

Keep up with Sun's campus ambassadors by reading their blog postings.

Learn more about Sun's offerings for college and university students: internships, the Campus Ambassador program, the Sun Academic Initiative program, and Sun's portal for student developers.

MySQL-GlassFish Student Contest: Win $500

2008-09-02T15:11:31-07:00

Students: Use MySQL database and GlassFish application server to develop a web application, then write a review for a chance to win prizes. Read more.

News From Sun Campus Ambassadors Worldwide

2008-08-29T11:49:18-07:00

Campus ambassadors Santiago Builes, Oscar Linares, and Jenifer Parra, with the help of students Mario Linares and Miguel Moreno, visited five major educational institutions in Medellin, Colombia, and led demos about Sun offerings: OpenSolaris, Java EE development with SOA, ZFS, Sun VDI Solution, and Sun Academic Initiative. Take a look at the photos.

Vitório Sassi announced that Sun Tech Days in Brazil will take place September 29 to October 1. Vitório has been busy testing a beta version of OpenSolaris in Portuguese. Read more.

Sidsel Jensen, campus ambassador at University of Copenhagen, Denmark, has been using the application RunKeeper on her new iPhone 3G to track her running performance as she prepares for a local race. She's also looking for ideas for how to participate a little differently in this year's Software Freedom Day on September 20.

Silveira Neto, campus ambassador at Federal University of Ceará in Brazil, has posted slides from his JavaFX technology presentation.

Keep up with Sun's campus ambassadors by reading their blog postings.

Learn more about Sun's offerings for college and university students: internships, the Campus Ambassador program, the Sun Academic Initiative program, and Sun's portal for student developers.

News From Sun Campus Ambassadors Worldwide

2008-08-19T12:39:03-07:00

Silveira Neto, campus ambassador at Federal University of Ceará in Brazil, recently posted three videos that show how he used JavaFX code to create drag-and-drop effects. Take a look.

Jenifer Parra Orjuela of Colombia writes about upcoming student events in Medellin, Bucaramanga, and Bogota. Watch this blog for details and photos.

Abhishek Uppala, campus ambassador at Icfai Institute of Science and Technology (IcfaiTech) in Hyderabad, India, wrote about a recent demo of the NetBeans IDE and provided a list of resources.

Sidsel Jensen, campus ambassador at University of Copenhagen, Denmark, wrote about her experiences at Yet Another Perl Conference (YAPC), the progress in planning October's Open Source Days, and a research-oriented test drive on a Segway.

On SDN Channel, Chris Coe and Jordan Slott talk with Chris Leung, former campus ambassador at the University of Southern California, about Project: Possibility, a nonprofit organization that helps create open-source software for people with disabilities. Listen in, then check out the Possibility projects, such as LunarTuner, a musical instrument tuner that is designed for use by "blind, deaf, or fully-abled but pitch-challenged users."

Ganesh Hiregoudar, manager of campus ambassadors in India and APAC, recently informed ambassadors of an article in InformationWeek that highlights the Java ME technology-based Lightweight UI Toolkit (LWUIT), Sun Opens Java ME Tools to Developers. ZDNet also covered the LWUIT story.

Tzietzel Anselmo-Ramos, program manager of the Sun Academic Initiative (SAI), announced that training is available for campus ambassadors through the new SAI Learning Connection. If you are not yet an SAI member, take a look at the course options by logging in as a guest on the SAI Learning Connection site before you register.

Keep up with Sun's campus ambassadors by reading their blog postings.

Learn more about Sun's offerings for college and university students: internships, the Campus Ambassador program, the Sun Academic Initiative program, and Sun's portal for student developers.

Wombat Classes Basics (Young Developers Series, Part 2)

2008-08-12T13:50:37-07:00

This article shows you where Java code is written and saved, how classes relate to one another, and how to use the Greenfoot code editor.

Wombat Object Basics (Young Developer Series)

2008-08-07T16:07:30-07:00

Wombat Object Basics (Young Developer Series) is aimed at anyone age 10+, and explains what Java objects are and how they interact with each other, using examples from the Greenfoot Wombat scenario.