No open source in IT curriculum

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Rakuen Growlithe
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No open source in IT curriculum

#1

Post by Rakuen Growlithe »

I'm curious about what the more IT focussed members of the forum think about this. The department of basic education is planning to completely phase out the use of open source software in the high school computer curriculum by 2016. Story here and here. Apparently they are insisting on using Microsoft Office and will be teaching Delphi instead of Java.

I think it's a terrible idea. I believe we should be moving to open source and free software and I think that's especially important here where we don't have a lot of free money. They say that Microsoft will discount it's products but a discount is still more than free, like Linux (Ubuntu is headed up Mark Shuttleworth!) and LibreOffice (which works on all OSs). This seems to me like a terrible idea but maybe others think it's not?
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Re: No open source in IT curriculum

#2

Post by Flaxney »

I heard about this, Delphi.. I .. sigh, this country gets worse and worse -.-
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Re: No open source in IT curriculum

#3

Post by Durosuka »

I don't agree with this. As a teaching platform, Java works a lot better. I had java in high school and it gave me the edge I needed when I came to study here at UJ. Delfi is a bit useless and takes away a lot of stuff you'd need to know about coding. but thats just my view.

As for open source. I believe, Open Source teaches us about community and sharing. We have this software for free, we find our own bugs, fix them, share selutions and even share improvements. It is perfect for a school system. Going Microsoft exclusive is a big mistake in my opinion. With the new windows 8 being all mobile only it will also taint a young kids idea of a peronalised computer.

Now we don't have to go all full linux and stuff but we can at least show school kids open source software, how it works, how you can contribute and use it as a learing curve. Yes it might not be as shiny as windows products, but for a country that isn't exactly wealthy it is the next best thing. Microsoft has so many hidden costs and its gets a lot worse when you develop for a windows platform. Showing a upcoming developer that there are many many selutions to a single problem is a possitive thing. Showing them that microsoft is the only way to go and that you have to pay through your nose to just develop would break most people and make them thing to just abandone the whole thing entirely.

I'm on my tablet so forgive typing mistakes, there is no spell checker on this
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Re: No open source in IT curriculum

#4

Post by Rakuen Growlithe »

Auric wrote:Teachers need to use Delphi/Office, not the students. Much ado about nothing.
That's still weird but if it were only directed at the teachers then why mention a programming language? Surely all they would need to do is send the marks along, there's no need to write a programme to do that.
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Re: No open source in IT curriculum

#5

Post by Fluke »

I agree with the move away from Java. It's a completely stupid programming language that needs to die out because of its millions of security flaws.

Moving to MS is annoying, but makes sense. Most of the business world uses MS for client-computing, and it is vastly different from Linux in Server-implementation. However, I would like to see both, or at least a little bit of Linux server and client operation explanation.
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Re: No open source in IT curriculum

#6

Post by Darq »

Overall, a poor move...

I can see Delphi's usefulness as an introduction into programming. It's visual and provides an easy means to create interfaces, which are more engaging than the command-line interfaces one typically starts with in other languages. That instant-gratification is good for allowing exploration and "playfulness" when programming, which is ultimately how one will learn.

That said, I would not stick around it for long. That visual, instant-gratification style of programming quickly proves to be shallow, and poorly suited for real-world use. Those who have become excited about programming from Delphi should be introduced to another language fairly quickly.

Java is good for that. It's strict, which in my opinion is good for learning, and incredibly widely used. Regarding its security flaws... Those involve breaking out of Java's browser sandbox. Java really should not be used from within the browser, that was a bad idea from a while ago, luckily most people are realising this. As a standalone programming language, however, Java is still powerful and popular. More common crticisms I've heard would be that it is overly verbose or that it is too militantly Object Oriented (first-class methods, please).

Mandating Microsoft Office... Well I can't really come up with an explanation other than "students will be expected to be proficient with Microsoft Office in industry", which is true to an extent, but a pity. I understand the need to standardise on a format, converting between is never as seamless as advertised. But Microsoft Office? Even for people who can afford computers, a grand for Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and OneNote? That's expensive... Sure, put discounted versions on the machines at the schools. And thus enforce a paywall preventing kids from continuing work or their own private projects at home. Great idea, way to allow exploration and develop habits of self-directed and informal learning...

I learned Delphi and Microsoft Office in highschool, so this doesn't strike me as new. But still, this seems wasteful, of money, time, and the potential of students.
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Re: No open source in IT curriculum

#7

Post by slacker »

Sounds normal to me. Microsoft providing kickbacks so long as it stays number 1. I had to teach myself open-source coding and Linux on my own as part of an informal self-enrichment objective.

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Re: No open source in IT curriculum

#8

Post by Helios_phi »

Ha ha ha, living in a county were school children don't have shoes or even running water at home and our education system is deciding to pay for Microsoft products instead of opt for open source. The disparity of wealth between the electorate and voters is marvelous in this country
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Re: No open source in IT curriculum

#9

Post by Rakuen Growlithe »

Yay for science and technology. From Science and Technology Minister Derek Hanekom:
Among other things, the policy states that the South African Government will use FOSS unless proprietary software is demonstrated to be significantly superior. When the advantages of FOSS and proprietary software are comparable, FOSS will be used when choosing a software solution for a new project.
Seems like SKA project is likely to push open source.
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Re: No open source in IT curriculum

#10

Post by Durosuka »

yay open source!
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Re: No open source in IT curriculum

#11

Post by Rakuen Growlithe »

Let's say we grant that, see latest quote. It's supposed to be government policy to use open source software unless there are significant advantages for proprietary. If they're going to make everyone go on one page it should be an open source page. I'm not aware of Office or, from what I've heard, Delphi being significantly better. You can create real demand for programming talent in open source languages which is just as useful, particularly for a poor country. There's so little IT competence here there's no need to lock ourselves into expensive proprietary platforms with less options for customisation.
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~John Milton~
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Re: No open source in IT curriculum

#12

Post by Rakuen Growlithe »

You're creating a false choice there. One page and open source are not contradictory in this setting. No one is saying that by choosing open source for the curriculum means that any possible software can be used. The point we are saying is that if the curriculum is going to specify using a specific software and language, then the one that is chosen should be an open source language, in line with the governments open source policy. That there are other open source options is as irrelevant as saying they can't choose Microsoft because there are other proprietary options available. This choice is about what the curriculum uses, not what philosophy the students must have.

Your talk about Ubuntu and Android, whether true or not, has almost no relevance to the topic.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~

“Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.”
~John Milton~
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