Tis a sad dayRandy Pausch, from The Last Lecture has passed away I remembered watching this video about 7 months ago. Its a touching subject. Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch gave his last lecture at the university on Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving presentation, Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals. He suffered from pancreatic cancer and passed away on July 25th. It is a shame that this man had to die. He was extremely brilliant and even seemed to be like a well-liked guy. Sadly, this is how the world works Perhaps his most ambitious effort was Alice, a computer programming environment that enables novices to create 3-D computer animations using a drag-and-drop interface. The best way to teach somebody something, Pausch explained, is to have them think theyre learning something else. With Alice, students concentrate on making movies and games, but they also are learning to program. Carnegie Mellon makes downloads of the Alice software available for free at www.alice.org. Eight textbooks on Alice have been written. Alice is used by 10 percent of U.S. colleges and in many high schools. Also available is a version for middle school children called Storytelling Alice, which was designed by Caitlin Kelleher, Pauschs Ph.D. student, to appeal in particular to young girls with hopes of increasing female interest in computer science careers. A new version of Alice, featuring animated characters donated by Electronic Arts from its best-selling game The Sims, is slated for release in 2009. In his last lecture, Pausch said: Like Moses, I get to see the Promised Land, but I dont get to step foot in it. Thats OK. I will live on in Alice. Carnegie Mellon's website with more information on Randy Pausch
