Does anybody else see a problem with the CS department using VS .NET to teach a data structures class? I don't see any advantages in that.

In CS53 we used GCC and I could either logon to the unix machine or use it on my box. There are GCC packages for almost any commonly used operating system and platform.

VS, however, is only available for the proprietary 'Microsoft Windows' os.

Even if I had a Windows machine to install it on, VS is expensive and proprietary.
The proprietary nature of the Microsoft operating system and development tools has helped them achieve the monopolistic status they hold today.

GCC is free, both in terms of price and liberty. Anyone can download the source and binaries at no cost and the source code is available for everyone to view, modify, and distribute(even if modified).

Visual Studio is expensive, proprietary, platform restrictive, and only serves to increase the mind-share of a convicted monopolistic company.

And how do stupid gui's help teach data structures? (And if for some reason they do, there are tons of free(libre) gui toolkits available.)

before you go on another tree-hugging rant about proprietary software and monopolistic restrictive developement applications, I suggest you search through the archives. Apparently another cs 153 student cried about this very same problem last year. So if you have some time between trolling on the seek forums and reading slashdot posts, maybe you should look it up, there were some very good points made. Please close your mouth and open your mind.

EDIT: Apparently some of the archives was lost in one of the numerous system crashes. So topic is unlocked, I'm an asshole yes... and I dont care.

You are wrong. You cannot support your wrong opinions, so you have criticised me personally. Did you delete my last post?

Yes, Yes I did, but I give up, go ahead and cry about VS .NET because you apparently dont know any better. Maybe someone else from these forums remember that old topic and will explain to you why you're spending your time trolling the forums instead of doing your 153 projects.

The homework hasn't been assigned yet and I think this issue is legitimate.

Wait.. you're telling me that you havent even had a homework assingment and you're already complaining about it? Wow, at least try it first before you bitch.

My complaint is that it is proprietary. It's license is restrictive.

good for you, maybe you can explain the same thing to the graders when you havent completed your assingments.

I'll do the assignments if I have to. But that doesn't change anything I've said.

I don't think you understand what the issue is. I have no specific complaints against VS, I've never actually used it. It's the license and non-free status which is wrong.

I don't think you will get much sympathy p8m, most users on seek would rather pirate software than use actual Free software.

EDIT: You better not be a troll.

No trolling. Mostly I wanted to see if anybody cared about this.

Maybe one or two people.

You get to learn new libraries and technologies. This in turn makes you more marketable. Consequently, being more marketable will get you a bigger paycheck. If you are one of those that doesn't like money then send whatever you don't want to me (or the FSF would be another good source...help support GCC!).


Congratulations, you can read a EULA and a price tag. If you did some research you would already know that you can download WinXPPro and VS.NET for free through the Academic Alliance that the CS Department is part of. I don't know if it is a campus wide thing or just for CS students though


Can't go wrong with a good business strategy. Is it possible to say "proprietary" more than twice in a single post?


Yep. I guess that it is possible.


The first thing that comes to mind is being able to display a list in, well, a list box control. Maybe creating a tree in, well, a tree control would be another use. I'll let your imagination run with ideas from there.

Getting a little diversity in your education here won't kill you. I promise.

mm locked into a proprietary environment. sounds like fun.