Training Drupal Developers

RESOURCES
Achieve Internet generally starts this training a few days after a new employee has been hired and has time to settle in and get set up. We usually give them a week or so, and make the requirements fairly open ended, so there is lots of room for creativity as well as mistakes. There are code reviews very often. If any attendees want to tackle the project requirements in advance and bring questions to the session, I think we will see a great variety of responses and stimulate a debate on ways to accomplish certain goals in development. Attached is our intro spec, please contact me with any questions.

SESSION OVERVIEW
Ever wish there was a module that did exactly what you needed? There’s one way to be sure that great idea gets implemented the right way, write it yourself! We’ll go over all the basics of modules, and build one from scratch during the session with live code examples. We will be using the same training program Achieve Internet has developed for its new employees, just compressed, and updated for Drupal 6.

TARGET NEEDS
* shortage of drupal talent, training new employees
* difficult learning curve for Drupal module writers
* different background for new developers coming from other languages
* need to update development knowledge to Drupal-6

MODULE TRAINING POINTS (AGENDA)
* how to decide if you need a new module
* overview of the hook system
* is it a node or not?
* db table design
* the basics: files and hooks, creating a new node
* basic node hooks, get your data in, data out
* the block system and callbacks
* calling the theme system for easy overrides
* depending on session time, may go into detail on changes from Drupal-5 to Drupal-6
* if possible, questions and comparisons from those who have tackled the attached spec or written modules before

GOALS
Drupal can have a tough learning curve for new developers, the aim of this session is to provide guidance and show how to avoid easy mistakes. At the end of the session, participants will feel comfortable starting a simple new module, and be able to explore further.

POSSIBLE ATTENDEES
* experienced programmers who are new to Drupal
* companies interested in training new employees
* experienced Drupal admins who want to learn how a module really works, or want to get into coding
* persons looking to evaluate the ease of Drupal’s extensibility
* experienced Drupal-5 module coders who want a quick example of changes that affect them for Drupal-6