Merge branch 'main' into reorder-primers

prep/README.md

@@ -10,16 +10,34 @@ Before you start this course, there's a few things we assume you've done:
 
 - You're familiar with the essentials of writing code in JavaScript
 - You have experience with JavaScript in the browser and in [Node](https://nodejs.org/en/)
-- You've completed the [Tour of Go](https://go.dev/tour/welcome/1)
-- Learnt about pointers and memory:
+
+## Preparatory work
+
+### Computers and programming
+
+Before attempting any of the projects, you should:
+
+- [ ] Read some of [How Computers Really Work by Matthew Justice](https://www.howcomputersreallywork.com/). You _must_ read chapters 1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12. Any other chapters may be interesting (feel free to read them! We particularly recommend 8), but aren't necessary.
+  - Note that this book isn't free - someone at CYF may be able to lend you a copy if you need.
+  - You don't need to remember (or even fully understand) everything you read - the goal is just that you're familiar with the concepts as you learn more.
+- [ ] Complete the [Tour of Go](https://go.dev/tour/welcome/1)
+- [ ] Read [How to use the fmt package in Golang](https://www.educative.io/answers/how-to-use-the-fmt-package-in-golang)
+- [ ] Learn about pointers and memory:
   - Read the [Pointers chapter](https://www.golang-book.com/books/intro/8) of [An Introduction to Programming in Go](https://www.golang-book.com/books/intro), and do the problems listed in the chapter.
   - Read about [stack and heap memory](https://courses.engr.illinois.edu/cs225/fa2022/resources/stack-heap/) - note that the examples here are C++ not Go, but you should be able to follow them. One important difference between these languages is that in Go, you don't need to worry about whether a value lives on the heap or the stack (in fact, Go is allowed to choose where your variable lives, and even move it around) - this means that it's ok to return a pointer to a stack variable in Go. You also don't need to call `delete` yourself in Go - Go is [a garbage collected language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_collection_(computer_science)) so it will delete variables when they're no longer needed.
+- [ ] Read and work through [Learn Go with tests](https://quii.gitbook.io/learn-go-with-tests/) up to and including the Mocking section.
 
 This is important because we don't cover the basic language features of Go: you need to be familiar with writing Go functions and methods, plus the basics of types in Go. You'll also need to know how to navigate [packages and documentation](https://pkg.go.dev/), and we have a [short guide on how to do that](#learn-how-to-navigate-go-documentation).
 
 Remember: you can _always_ Google or ask for help if you get stuck.
 
-## Set up and get to know your IDE
+### Linux
+
+- [ ] Play [the Bandit](https://overthewire.org/wargames/bandit/) - you must be able to complete up to level 20 (repeatedly)
+- [ ] Take this [Unix 101 course](https://www.opsschool.org/unix_101.html) (and then try 102)
+- [ ] Print out this [Linux-Cheat-Sheet](https://www.loggly.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Linux-Cheat-Sheet-Sponsored-By-Loggly.pdf)
+
+### Set up and get to know your IDE
 
 We're going to assume you're using [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) in this course.
 
@@ -35,7 +53,7 @@ Some of the really useful ones:
 
 Write a bit of Go in VS Code and experiment with these features. A small investment now will save a lot of time in the future!
 
-## Learn how to navigate Go documentation
+### Learn how to navigate Go documentation
 
 The [Go standard library](https://pkg.go.dev/std) has lots of documentation and examples, such as [net/http](https://pkg.go.dev/net/http). To find documentation, you can use the search feature or Google something like `golang net/http`, which will generally help you find what you're looking for.
 
@@ -51,6 +69,24 @@ The structure is fairly similar between different packages. Let's take `fmt` as
 
 > 💡 The best way to get familiar with a new package, particularly if the documentation is a bit dense (like for the the `fmt` package), is to look at the Examples section. It will have some basic and advanced usage that you can often use straight away.
 
+### Projects
+
+Complete the first few [projects](/projects) up-to and including "Servers & HTTP requests".
+
+If you are getting feedback on these projects, we recommend making pull requests (against your fork) early, and get feedback on each before starting the next.
+
+If you have spare time, we also recommend completing the stretch goals of each project before moving on to the next one - it's better to take time to learn all the lessons from each project, rather than race ahead as fast as you can.
+
+Make sure to read the guidance about the projects below before attempting them.
+
+### Reading
+
+Dip in to some longer books, but don't feel you need to read the whole lot!
+
+- [ ] [Google - Site Reliability Engineering](https://sre.google/sre-book/table-of-contents/)
+- [ ] [The Unix Tools Philosophy](https://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/gnu_linux_tools_guide/the-unix-tools-philosophy.html)
+- [ ] [The Phoenix Project](https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Phoenix-Project-Helping-Business-Anniversary/dp/B00VBEBRK6/)
+
 ## Conventions used in projects
 
 ### Command line examples

projects/README.md

@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ Most exercises finish with a list of optional extension tasks. It's highly recom
    <br>An introduction to interfaces in Go.
 1. [File Parsing](./file-parsing)
    <br>Practice parsing different formats of files, both standard and custom.
+1. [Concurrency](./concurrency)
+   <br>Put synchronisation primitives into action by building a thread-safe cache.
 1. [Servers & HTTP requests](./http-auth)
    <br>Learn about long-running processes, HTTP and `curl`
 1. [Servers & Databases](./server-database)