On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 10:06 AM, Seth Thomas Rasmussen <[email protected]> wrote: > On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 3:45 AM, Kyle King <[email protected]> wrote: >> Shoes has always, to me anyway, pioneered the idea that anyone should be >> able to write a simple gui. That programming little apps should be fun and >> easy. But Shoes isn't just a toy to teach children. Although it is best >> suited for teaching, it also has the very real potential to be a practical, >> everyday utility in a ruby programmer's toolbox. I can honestly say that >> I've used Shoes at work to write little one-time guis for people that aren't >> comfortable with the command line. > > I find this passage, and much recent discussion on this mailing list > quite curious. Why is Shoes best for educational purposes? It seems, > in fact, that some of the ambiguity and quirks of the Ruby language > make that task quite a chore in certain moments. > > That said, I'd love to see it used increasingly in school settings, > and I think Ruby is probably less painful than a great many other > languages. Perhaps this is what it all boils down to. > > Anyway, no big deal or argument here, just an observation. Personally, > I'm more interested in the "easy GUI" part, though their is a lurking > educator in me. Sadly, I don't think I've yet got the maturity of > patience to seriously consider teaching.
Hey, educators and the like.. it's not very clear from my blurting this all out, I suppose, but I'd like to know what you think! I'm curious how people view the use of Ruby and Shoes as a teaching tool in their experiences so far. Obviously, some of you are into the idea and have shared some feedback. What specifically interests you? How do you see Ruby as a good fit? Etc. -- Seth Thomas Rasmussen http://greatseth.com
