[Lazarus] Graeme would love this, or not, I think

[Reinier Olislagers]

On 26/10/2013 16:52, Hans-Peter Diettrich wrote:
> Marco van de Voort schrieb:
> 
>>>> In this class, all this simply ate too much time, and even after
>>>> students
>>>> were ackward with it. And it was only 9 x 1.5 hr, then an hour is
>>>> still too
>>>> much.
>>> Then a good ole homecomputer (C64 emulator...) would be more useful ;-)
>>
>> Same problem as with an Dos emulator for TP. Concepts too alien, install
>> troubles etc.
> 
> Problems are quite different. A full DOS emulator includes a lot of low
> level stuff (running real-mode programs, disk formatting,
> networking...), that is not required for program development. A C64 or
> similar emulator can use virtual devices instead, interprets also the
> programs to run, and screen output is simple with a (fixed size) paintbox.
> 
> My experience with development systems also suggests an installation in
> a virtual machine. VM software installation is extremely simple,
> compared to an FPC/Lazarus installation and configuration, and a single
> VM can contain a fully installed and configured development system,
> ready for educational use. When somebody succeeded in breaking his
> system, a simple restore of the initial VM state allows to proceed
> normally within seconds (sandbox).
> 
> At the same time the students can learn about virtual machines
> (optional), which later also should be used in professional software
> development. A VM is insensitive to hardware replacement/upgrade, and
> allows continued use of a specific compiler version. See the persistent
> trouble with RadStudio installations, caused by upgrades of either
> Delphi or Windows - currently Win8.1 causes such trouble, and on Linux
> it will be ongoing GUI (gtk...) upgrades.
> 
> Plus a VM can be isolated perfectly from the real world, unreachable by
> NSA and other exploits and attacks (Merkel... ;-)
> 
> 
>> I was actually flabbergasted by how little pre existing
>> knowledge/experience
>> the avg student understood of the console concept. And that was in
>> 2005-7,
>> now it will be even less.
> 
> Nowadays cloud experience is more important than DOS experience. How
> many jobs will you find later, wich require DOS experience and coding,
> compared to the many jobs for writing (mobile) GUI and cloud applications?
> 
> 
>>>> Delphi on the other hand invited too much play.
>>> This energy could be used in extra (voluntary) courses, where the
>>> interested can learn more about using Delphi.
>>
>> This energy does not exist outside mandatory classes :-)
> 
> It exists, it's only a matter of motivation. Let the students suggest
> projects of *their* interest, then teach them the useful techniques for
> their projects - learning by doing can be mere fun :-)
> 
> DoDi
> 
> 
> -- 
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