[Fsf-india] Re: [Fsf Education] Fwd: Free Software for Education

[ramakrishnan]

> It depends on the output one wants. I do not know Scheme programming and
> have no idea what _SICP_ is. But I am sure one cannot create a fast

SICP is Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, one of the phenomenal
books written on introductory computer science. Sadly, you won't find it being used in 
any Indian Institutes of Technology/Science. The book is freely downloadable from
MIT Press website.

http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/

> rendering vector graphics toolkit or a Kernel module in Python et al. or
> *any* scripting language.

Please see http://sketch.sourceforge.net/ and an interview with its author
http://www.advogato.org/article/389.html

From its website:
   "Sketch is an interactive vector drawing program for Linux and other UNIX-compatible 
   systems. It is intended to be a flexible and powerful tool for illustrations, diagrams and 
   other purposes.

    A somewhat unique (for a drawing program) feature of Sketch is that it is implemented 
   almost completely in a very high-level, interpreted language, Python. Python is powerful, 
   object-oriented and yet easy to use."

> But there is no harm in teaching them C/C++ so that they can write more
> libraries and wrappers ;)

Yes, I agree. I was only suggesting that C/C++ are not good introductory languages, and 
things like pointers can potentially get people away from serious hacking.

--
Ramakrishnan M  <rkrishnan@debian.org> | http://people.debian.org/~rkrishnan/