[plt-scheme] middle ground between MrEd and gui/draw teachpacks?

From: Prabhakar Ragde (plragde at uwaterloo.ca)
Date: Wed Feb 9 13:17:42 EST 2005

>Can you clarify what the actual task is?

The immediate task is to create a drawing program roughly matching the
Tcl/tk program in Intermediate Student with teachpack support, so that
the girls can use it as a basis for enhancements. The Tcl/tk program
has menus for choosing lines/rectangles and colours, plus a help menu
that pops up a text window [*], and these are a panel just above a
canvas. Below is a quit button and an X-Y cursor display.

Whether this is the right thing to do in the context of a one-week
summer camp resembling the one you described at NU is another
matter. There are two factors constraining me. One is that other
people are running it; I don't plan to take over, and I don't want to
alienate them. The other is that they wish to avoid a focus on games
and animation, with which I agree. I've mentioned this on
plt-edu. A drawing program exercises similar skills but in the
context of a practical application, which works better at attracting
the interest of those we (collectively) are currently discouraging. If
I can match that, and then throw in some Web stuff, I may have a
convincing case for a switch. --PR

[*] Popping up a help window is something I still can't do easily
except with message-box, even in full MrEd. I think I'm missing
something.



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