Visakhapatnam District Workshop on FOSS Technologies in Andhra University

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2011-11-24 12:56
Venue
Andhra University

As part of the Software Freedom Fortnight (from 15 th Sept to 2nd Oct) AUCE|GLUG has
conducted a 2 day workshop on Free Software Technologies held on 24 th and 25th of September
2011. The workshop was conducted in association with “Swecha”.
Inaugural Function (Day 1):
The inaugural function was presided by Prof.M.Shashi (HOD-Dept. of Computer Science and
Systems Engineering), Prof.G.S.N.Raju (Principal AUCE(A)), coordinators for the Workshop
Prof.V.Valli Kumari and Prof.N.V.E.S.Murthy and Prof.L.Pratap Reddy (JNTU-H).
The dignitaries gave a brief description about importance of free software and its advantages.
Events:
Day 1:
Free Software Philosophy:
This session is the 1st session of the 2 day workshop. This session was presented by Mr.Bhuvan
Krishna, General Secretary of Swecha. Introductory things like what is free software,
advantages of free software, proprietary software were dealt in the session. The four laws that
govern the free software philosophy were presented with example scenarios pertaining to
software development. Difference between free software model and open source software
model were discussed in the session. Debian operating system was used the host operating
system and some of its features were shown to the students. At the end of the session,
students had a clear idea about free software and other software models and advantages of
free software both from the developer and consumer point of view.
Python Programming:
This session was presented by Mr.Srikanth Vavilla, Student Coordinator of AUCE | GLUG. The
session was started by giving a short introduction on compilers, interpreters and the basic
difference between them. Features of Python programming language and some applications
developed in Python were shown to the students. The rest of the session is demonstrated
practically. Python as a scientific calculator was explained by performing some simple
arithmetic calculations.
Modules covered during practical demonstration:
1. Data types
2. Objects in Python
3. Looping statements
4. Decision making statements
5. String functions
6. Data Structures
7. Importaing modules and using them in a program
8. OOP's concepts (Classes and Objects in Python)
9. File input/ output operations
10. Custom module creation
All the modules were explained by showing simple code snippets.

Day 2:
Content Management Systems (using Drupal framework):
This session was presented by Mr.Pavan Chuvva 3rd year student of B.Tech CSE at GITAM,
Hyderabad. Introduction to content management systems, uses of content management
systems and rapid website development using CMS tools were presented by giving some real
world example. Difference between static web and dynamic web were explained by showing
some example websites. A brief introduction on Database Management Systems and Web
Architecture were explained to the students. Basics of web hosting and web servers were
covered.
Modules covered during practical demonstration:
1. Drupal installation
2. Setting up the database (My Sql) for Drupal prior to its installation
3. Basic Apache web server configuration
Internet Anonymity:
This is the last session of the 2-day workshop. This session was presented by Mr. Bhuvan
Krishna. Various concepts like proxy technologies, online privacy and covert modes of
communication were discussed in the workshop.
Valedictory function:
Valedictory function was started by a giving a short note on the 2-day workshop and modules
covered in the workshop by the dignitaries.
Certificates and CD’s (UBUNTU Operating System) were distributed to all the students who
attended the 2 day event.
Students from more than 15 Engineering colleges attended the workshop. There was an
overwhelming response and some of the registrations were cancelled considering auditorium

capacity. All the participant students and the management and staff of AUCE appreciated Swecha and the AUCE GLUG for taking up the initiative..