HigherLevelEduPackages
|
⇤ ← Revision 1 as of 2010-05-05 17:34:46
Size: 2112
Comment:
|
← Revision 2 as of 2010-05-06 19:19:34 ⇥
Size: 3952
Comment: General comments and packages.
|
| Deletions are marked like this. | Additions are marked like this. |
| Line 18: | Line 18: |
| Education doesn't stop at 18 years of age. Edubuntu should identify applications that help in education into adulthood. | Education doesn't stop at 18 years of age. Edubuntu should identify free-software applications that help in education into adulthood. |
| Line 20: | Line 20: |
| == User stories == | In many colleges and universities, specially technical ones, students are entitled to use specialized licensed software for their education and research. In other institutions, specially in developing countries, the situation is less clear, and students use basically whatever they can get their hands on. Providing free alternatives to expensive, commercial software may be seen as a priority in some cases. |
| Line 24: | Line 24: |
| Since higher education, or tertiary education, encompasses any of the fields of study offered in universities, we may have to restrict ourselves to Engineering sciences which make extensive use of the computer. |
|
| Line 26: | Line 28: |
| You can have subsections that better describe specific parts of the issue. | The meta-package must provide general software for accomplishing general tasks, and perhaps a few specialized for a given field. * Tools for general mathematics: manipulation of matrices, and basic programming * Tools for advance drawing and plotting: producing high-quality images and sketches * Tools for scientific authoring: writing scientific papers and dissertations * Tools for computer programming: a C compiler and debugger, and auxiliary libraries |
| Line 30: | Line 37: |
| This section should describe a plan of action (the "how") to implement the changes discussed. Could include subsections like: | === General mathematics === * Octave: A free-software replacement of Matlab, Octave provides a programming language environment which can operate directly on matrices. * Octave-packages: there is a multitude of additional packages designed for Octave, which implement specific functions for optimization, differential equation solving, numerical integration, etc. * QtOctave: A frontend to the command-line-oriented Octave. * Scilab: an alternative to Octave. |
| Line 32: | Line 43: |
| === UI Changes === | === Drawing and plotting === * Inkscape: used to produce Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), which can be converted to PDF and PNG at an arbitrary resolution, thus obtaining a high-quality image suitable for inclusion in printed documents. |
| Line 34: | Line 46: |
| Should cover changes required to the UI, or specific UI that is required to implement this | === Scientific authoring === * LaTeX: A system to create high-quality documents with lots of mathematics, to print or to distribute in PDF. |
| Line 36: | Line 49: |
| === Code Changes === | === Computer programming === * GCC: The GNU Compiler Collection to program in C and C++, at least. * gdb and ddd: the GNU debugger (gdb), and its frontend (ddd) to step through compiled C and C++ code. * Libraries for mathematics: these may include the GNU Scientific Library (GSL) and others that deal with specific topics. |
| Line 38: | Line 54: |
| Code changes should include an overview of what needs to change, and in some cases even the specific details. | == The essential problem with this meta-package == It is hard to determine if a package like this one is really useful or needed at all, because at a higher education level students have very different needs depending on the career path they have chosen. |
| Line 40: | Line 57: |
| === Migration === | A package like Octave seems an obvious choice because it is a general platform to perform calculations, however, other packages may only cater specific fields, and including those in a standard installation may result in a bloated system. |
| Line 42: | Line 59: |
| Include: * data migration, if any * redirects from old URLs to new ones, if any * how users will be pointed to the new way of doing things, if necessary. == Test/Demo Plan == It's important that we are able to test new features, and demonstrate them to users. Use this section to describe a short plan that anybody can follow that demonstrates the feature is working. This can then be used during testing, and to show off after release. Please add an entry to http://testcases.qa.ubuntu.com/Coverage/NewFeatures for tracking test coverage. This need not be added or completed until the specification is nearing beta. |
It may turn out that the general classification of "Science & Engineering", and the sub-classes within, in the Ubuntu Software Center may be more than enough for most needs. |
Launchpad Entry: None
Created: 2010-05-05
Contributors: LauchpadHome:mhall119
Packages affected:
Summary
Compile a meta-package of educational software appropriate for higher-level education.
Release Note
TBD
Rationale
Education doesn't stop at 18 years of age. Edubuntu should identify free-software applications that help in education into adulthood.
In many colleges and universities, specially technical ones, students are entitled to use specialized licensed software for their education and research. In other institutions, specially in developing countries, the situation is less clear, and students use basically whatever they can get their hands on. Providing free alternatives to expensive, commercial software may be seen as a priority in some cases.
Assumptions
Since higher education, or tertiary education, encompasses any of the fields of study offered in universities, we may have to restrict ourselves to Engineering sciences which make extensive use of the computer.
Design
The meta-package must provide general software for accomplishing general tasks, and perhaps a few specialized for a given field.
- Tools for general mathematics: manipulation of matrices, and basic programming
- Tools for advance drawing and plotting: producing high-quality images and sketches
- Tools for scientific authoring: writing scientific papers and dissertations
- Tools for computer programming: a C compiler and debugger, and auxiliary libraries
Implementation
General mathematics
- Octave: A free-software replacement of Matlab, Octave provides a programming language environment which can operate directly on matrices.
- Octave-packages: there is a multitude of additional packages designed for Octave, which implement specific functions for optimization, differential equation solving, numerical integration, etc.
QtOctave: A frontend to the command-line-oriented Octave.
- Scilab: an alternative to Octave.
Drawing and plotting
- Inkscape: used to produce Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), which can be converted to PDF and PNG at an arbitrary resolution, thus obtaining a high-quality image suitable for inclusion in printed documents.
Scientific authoring
- LaTeX: A system to create high-quality documents with lots of mathematics, to print or to distribute in PDF.
Computer programming
- GCC: The GNU Compiler Collection to program in C and C++, at least.
- gdb and ddd: the GNU debugger (gdb), and its frontend (ddd) to step through compiled C and C++ code.
- Libraries for mathematics: these may include the GNU Scientific Library (GSL) and others that deal with specific topics.
The essential problem with this meta-package
It is hard to determine if a package like this one is really useful or needed at all, because at a higher education level students have very different needs depending on the career path they have chosen.
A package like Octave seems an obvious choice because it is a general platform to perform calculations, however, other packages may only cater specific fields, and including those in a standard installation may result in a bloated system.
It may turn out that the general classification of "Science & Engineering", and the sub-classes within, in the Ubuntu Software Center may be more than enough for most needs.
Unresolved issues
This should highlight any issues that should be addressed in further specifications, and not problems with the specification itself; since any specification with problems cannot be approved.
BoF agenda and discussion
Use this section to take notes during the BoF; if you keep it in the approved spec, use it for summarising what was discussed and note any options that were rejected.
Edubuntu/Specifications/HigherLevelEduPackages (last edited 2010-05-06 19:19:34 by dsl-189-250-228-140-dyn)