28
votes
Accepted
Recommended IDE for teaching web development to beginners
I find that the best introductory IDE is a lack thereof because, for the most part, the features that an IDE offers (code completion, organization, etc.) are more hurt than help and tend to promote ...
- 4,785
19
votes
Accepted
IDE vs Editor and terminal for CS1
TL;DR Those two aren't your only options.
The main concern is cognitive load: learning to program is difficult enough without adding incidental complexity.
We've seen an explosion of hybrids in ...
- 799
12
votes
IDE vs Editor and terminal for CS1
Here are my thoughts on this.
Editor and Terminal
This is most likely the more lightweight solution. Editor and terminal often don't consume much space (or, at least, come bundled with the operating ...
- 1,011
11
votes
Recommended IDE for teaching web development to beginners
The latest generation of text editors, e.g. Sublime, Atom, Visual Studio Code, are great, and seem to offer all that one might want from an IDE. I've a soft spot for Atom, but don't rule the others ...
- 1,256
11
votes
IDE vs Editor and terminal for CS1
Of course it depends on your overall goals. For me, however, the answer is clear: Use the most powerful IDE that I can find (Eclipse or NetBeans fit my def).
I started programming on primitive ...
- 35.8k
10
votes
Accepted
Do automatic style hints help students to understand the language they're learning?
In my experience, immediate feedback is helpful in speeding along development, but rarely enhances understanding. In fact, I am often frustrated with the immense level of help that is provided to my ...
- 32.8k
10
votes
Recommended IDE for teaching web development to beginners
In the context of front-end development, I suggest looking into CodePen.
For each "pen" you can get an instant visual as to how your HTML/CSS/JS affect your page. Additionally, you can immediately ...
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10
votes
IDE vs Editor and terminal for CS1
The real question is this: do you want to teach your students what is actually going on, or teach them which magic buttons to press in an IDE?
Of course for professional programming work nobody would ...
- 613
9
votes
Helping students adjust to using industrial-strength IDEs
IDEs are tools that are designed to solve specific problems.
They're great for stuff like:
Compiling multiple projects that contain a bunch of classes.
Dealing with dependencies on multiple ...
- 5,430
7
votes
Recommended IDE for teaching web development to beginners
I don't think the tool (or learning the tool) should get in the way of learning the initial core of the subject.
If students are already comfortable with NotePad (or TextEdit, et.al.), why add to ...
- 1,895
6
votes
Command-line Java in AP CS A
Similar to @ncmathsadist, I use both command-line environments and IDEs, and I have only found them enhancing each other. We do most of our work in IDEs, but a few assignments are done in CLIs every ...
- 32.8k
5
votes
IDE vs Editor and terminal for CS1
I like to ease people in. You have mentioned that this is for first year. So, yeah, easing in would really have a positive impact on the overall learning experience.
I would like to draw from my own ...
- 1,884
5
votes
Recommended IDE for teaching web development to beginners
I go for simple. This year we used either an online editor or the free version of JCreator specifically because they don't have autocomplete.
What I noticed last year using NetBeans is that students ...
- 3,029
4
votes
Recommended IDE for teaching web development to beginners
You are correct in considering Sublime text, or atom text editor as they are light weight and more importantly will be hassle free for school kids.
But one should also keep in mind considering ...
- 141
4
votes
IDE vs Editor and terminal for CS1
For the editor
You can use the same editor for every language.
You can use the same editor for every system.
You can use the same editor every year: I learnt emacs (and vi) in 1991, and still use ...
- 10.7k
4
votes
Accepted
What is a (simple definition of) a development environment?
If you write software you necessarily have a development environment. It might help or hinder you as you work. A development environment consists of some set of tools that you use to develop the ...
- 35.8k
4
votes
IDE vs Editor and terminal for CS1
Most of the IDEs that have been mentioned are more confusing than just using a basic text editor and the command line. If I were you, my plan would be:
Start students with a very basic IDE.
Allow ...
- 5,430
4
votes
Accepted
Python IDE for beginners
I'm not a fan of full IDEs for beginners. A few years ago I switched my first year students (Java) from NetBeans to an online tool without any autocomplete or helpers for most assignments and found ...
- 3,029
4
votes
Python IDE for beginners
Visual Studio Code. Easy to set up and designed to be simple. I used to use PyCharm and PyScripter with good results. VSC is more versatile. Eclipse is a management pig for beginners. You have to ...
- 412
4
votes
Accepted
Looking for a simple, offline, portable, lightweight IDE for C++ with a compiler and debugger
My department uses Dev-C++. It's free, simple, offline, portable, and lightweight. Windows native.
Over the years the maintainer has swapped hands a number of times, it's occasionally gone a number of ...
- 1,252
3
votes
Helping students adjust to using industrial-strength IDEs
Maybe I'm misunderstanding the question or maybe I keep skipping over a line, but it seems like the question is more about how to help students figure out how to actually use IDEs (what buttons to ...
- 131
3
votes
Do automatic style hints help students to understand the language they're learning?
This reminds me very much of a similar discussion from the distant past.
The Meat
Human perception is colored by expectations. Transposed letters, misspellings, and wrong punctuation are all easy ...
- 998
3
votes
Command-line Java in AP CS A
With respect to APCS-A there won't be a difference.
Personally, I'm not overly fond of IDEs or one trick pony environments so I've encouraged our students to use an editor. I'm an Emacs wonk but the ...
- 1,572
2
votes
Recommended IDE for teaching web development to beginners
The answer can be very broad because of personal taste :) But you may want to check MS Visual Studio IDE which you can "minimize" for the purpose of education. And then extend if step by step.
- 189
2
votes
Command-line Java in AP CS A
Java's core, from my experience, is writing large (or many, or both ;)) classes and files (whilst preserving SOLID principles) and then running a rather complex ...
- 6,287
2
votes
Helping students adjust to using industrial-strength IDEs
The simple answer is don't:
Keep it simple.
The IDE will amplify their productivity and their confusion.
Consider the difference between education and training.
Are you teaching the IDE, because you ...
- 10.7k
2
votes
Python IDE for beginners
My preference might be different from most, but some of the things you seem to be asking for are inconsistent. For me, an "IDE for beginners" is one that doesn't need to be abandoned for a different ...
- 35.8k
2
votes
Python IDE for beginners
I start my students on Blockly for coding, as I find it is really useful to develop some algorithmic thinking. There is a developer section where you can create code with blocks (like Scratch) and "...
- 744
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible