this is drifting, but since we talking about teaching (which is part of my daytime job)
On Thu, Apr 5, 2012 at 7:33 AM, Robert Dewar <de...@adacore.com> wrote: > Wouldn't it be better in a "moderately basic programming course" to > provide standard canned scripts that set things up nicely for students > including the switches they need? you are assuming that all students have the same programming environement or that we can force them, or that the environment they are programming in can run "standard canned scripts that set things up". The reality is that far from these ideal situations. > Indeed for such a course wouldn't it > be better to use an appropriate IDE, so they could concentrate on the > task at hand and not fiddling with commands. Yes, I think it is very > important for students to learn what is going on, but you can't do > everything at once in a basic course. Where I teach I cannot MANDATE a particular IDE and have my course approved by the faculty senate. > > And even in the context you give, surely it is not too much to expect > a TA to remember important advice like this?
