logoalt Hacker News

raxxorraxorlast Monday at 1:43 PM6 repliesview on HN

Chromebooks and iPads are both completely unsuitable for digital education in my opinion. They can be decent tools for education using digital resources, but that is something different.

To "force" someone to develop on a Chromebook is like giving someone a bicycle to become a race car driver.

That said, I usually flashed my arduinos and used bare metal C. Ironically I think it makes many things easier to learn and understand, provided you have a programming device.


Replies

thadtlast Monday at 1:54 PM

What does a "digital education" look like, specifically?

Having spent several years teaching kids to code everything from games to lightbulbs on Chromebooks, I can confirm that there are certainly difficulties - but they're tradeoffs. I could spend my time coming up with a way to work through the platform restrictions, or I could spend my time maintaining a motley crew of devices and configurations. Having done it both ways, they both have different pain points.

show 2 replies
AlexeyBrinlast Monday at 1:48 PM

You really can't compare a Chromebook with an iPad. On a Chromebook that I bought and that I fully own I can enable the Linux system and install whatever I want on it (it runs in a VM and it is a full Linux system). The iPad is artificially crippled for programming by Apple.

show 3 replies
GeekyBearlast Monday at 2:30 PM

Apple has long provided tools for teaching kids how to code. Including lessons targeted at kids in middle schools.

> young coders are asked to assist these characters achieving simple goals by coding simple instructions. As challenges become more difficult, more complex algorithms are required to solve them and new concepts are introduced.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swift_Playgrounds

galleywest200last Monday at 3:48 PM

If your digital education is at an art school then an iPad with creative software is great.

If you mean computer science then yes you are correct.

show 1 reply
mips_avatarlast Monday at 8:40 PM

more like giving them a speed limited citi bike and expecting them to train for cyclocross.

assbuttbuttasslast Monday at 2:42 PM

> To "force" someone to develop on a Chromebook is like giving someone a bicycle to become a race car driver.

Lol, I use a Chromebook for development at work

show 1 reply