On 01/21/2011 04:14 AM, Philip Guenther wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 10:17 PM, Hugo Osvaldo Barrera
> <h...@osvaldobarrera.com.ar> wrote:
>> On 20/01/11 22:47, Andres Perera wrote:
>>> On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 7:32 PM, Predrag Punosevac
>>> <punoseva...@gmail.com> wrote:
> ...
>>>> All my desktops and laptops run OpenBSD. As a matter of fact the
>>>> desktops and laptops of all my students also run OpenBSD:-) It is
>>>> mandatory!
>>>
>>> Ignoring that I have a hard time believing that, I've had to deal with
>>> your type before, and I didn't like it. The teacher wanted me to
>>> install Windows so that I could learn Excel, all of this being part of
>>> the introduction to programming class.
>>>
>>> Really need to focus on the content instead of the tools, specially if
>>> you're supposed to be a respectful person being paid to teach.
>>
>> It's actually the same; FORCING people to use an OS, be it freer or not,
>> is basically the same idea; if you FORCE them to use it, it's not freedom.
>
> Huh. Do not confuse freedom with education.
>
> Imagine you're teaching a junior/senior level course about OSes, along
> with other courses or duties as part of a normal course and duty load.
> You understand that theory without practice is hollow, so you desire
> to require some practice of your students. As part of your course,
> you require your students to demonstrate OS understanding by at least
> *attempting* to make a change to an OS. What range of OSes do *you*
> accept as the target of that?
>
> A specific OS used in lecture and discussion for the class?
> Any of several OS mentioned in lecture for the class?
> Any OS to which you and the student can run and legally view and
> modify the source?
> Any OS to which you and the student can legally view and modify the source?
> Any OS which is "still in active development", for some definition of
> that phrase?
> Any OS to which the student can obtain source during the term
> (regardless of whether you can legally view it)?
>
> (Where do the following OSes fall in that list: Linux, OpenBSD,
> DragonflyBSD, SunOS, AIX, OS/360, Sprite, V, L4. At one of the
> colleges I worked at, some of the students were officially interns
> with IBM for a project that they were not to disclose. A submission
> from them would have been interesting...)
>
> Care to make an estimate for how long it will take you to evaluate the
> student submissions, *PER OS*?
>
I don't understand why they can't be evaluated in
school/univerity/whatever computers, which such OS already installed,
instead of their own.
Regardless, I must admit, you make a good point, and on this, I must
agree on this particular example :-)
>
> Philip Guenther
>
--
Hugo Osvaldo Barrera
