(FWD) Re: [seul-edu] Schoolforge - more inquiry

[Roger Dingledine <arma@mit.edu>]

----- Forwarded message from owner-seul-edu@seul.org -----

From: Bill <selinux@home.com>
To: seul-edu@seul.org
Subject: Re: [seul-edu] Schoolforge - more inquiry
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 22:02:39 -0500

On Tuesday 11 December 2001 20:58, you wrote:

> -There has been some discussion of developing software for
> classroom use (?)
>
> 	Is there something I am missing, or does this refer to something
> other than C++ or other compiled programs that will run on a Linux
> machine?
>

My (personal) thinking is that there is room for training software 
such as is customarily associated with Windows in the classroom.  
Perhaps a tutorial on any of several HTML editors or, for that matter 
vi / emacs (I have no intention of starting a war ... BOTH tutorials 
should be written because both would find an audience) would be in 
order. Perhaps, since Linux (as generally installed) has server 
capabilities that Windows does not have, students could walk through 
a series of exercises that would result in an intranet of web servers 
in a classroom. Different classrooms could compete for design of 
their network and design of their web and even in securing the whole 
ball of wax against and intrusion attempt by SAINT. There are lots of 
directions for such software / instructional methods to choose from. 
And there is also room for more than one solution to the same 
problem. 

As a math instructor, can you imagine a better exercise in hex / 
decimal / binary conversions than to have your students do the math 
to set up a subnet? Having just gone through this segment of Cisco 
Academy, I can promise you that this is the first time in my life I 
have had a practical use for these skills. NOW they are worth having.

http://www.ralphb.net/IPSubnet/
http://www.howstuffworks.com/boolean.htm

These two links will give you a feel for the educational richness of 
the topic. They are links away from the Cisco tutorial and not 
copyright by Cisco.

> -There has been some discussion of developing software to run
> on/with Linux (?)
>
> 	Again, is this something different from the question above? Are we
> to assume that all systems will run Perl, PHP, Python? (I'm
> dropping names mostly - little knowledge)
>
> -There has only been passing reference to web based programs.
>
> 	Since these programs are essentially platform-independent, will
> they be included - or would it be better to leave then for
> elsewhere? Most of them are freeware...
>

I would think that both web-based and java-based programs would be 
welcomed. Java developers will need to understand that educational 
programs for Linux may not run on MSFT platforms because MSFT diddled 
with Java ... but I really don't see the need to provide Linux 
education from Windows platforms, any ways. Perhaps Java programs 
could contain a disclaimer along the lines of "Because Microsoft 
Corporation has chosen to deviate from published standards, this Java 
program may not run properly on machines using a Microsoft operating 
system." 
(<--- rubbing hands in imitation of cartoon villain :-))


> I offer these only to continue the process - I am not looking for
> specific answers at this time.
>

This is a field of inquiry being born. Feel free, as I do, to offer 
any well-intentioned and (hopefully) well-reasoned thoughts that 
might be germaine. There is a lot of work ahead of us ... there will 
be an absolute need for a lot of minds, a lot of voices and a lot of 
hands before this work gains the inertia needed to move on its own.

Bill

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Swap:   401584       4460     397124
Total: 1946936    1499984     446952
Linux a.genesis.com 2.4.14 #3 Fri Nov 9 23:14:31 EST 2001 K7 750MHz
9:19pm  up 2 days, 22:33,  4 users,  load average: 0.81, 0.59, 0.59

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