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From: Robert Roos <rroos AT pellns DOT alleg DOT edu>
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 99 16:37:44 -0400
To: cygwin AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com
Subject: satisfied customer + RFC
Reply-To: rroos AT alleg DOT edu
X-Department: Computer Science
X-Company: Allegheny College,  Meadville, PA 16335

About a year ago I installed B19, along with the latest egcs update and the  
"coolview" dll, on each hard disk in a lab full of Windows NT machines.  
PURPOSE: create a lab environment for teaching C++ to an introductory  
computer science class. The system worked fine for two semesters; my  
colleagues and I are pretty happy with it. We don't use file servers; each  
disk has all the software on it. Students use diskettes or ftp for storage.

For the coming year I've installed B20 and the latest coolview dll. I'm  
gratified that there's now a "less" command. I assume there's no real need  
for me to install egcs, since the compiler seems to work on all the programs  
I've tested it on. "Gdb" seems to be usable once you get past the annoying  
line number error messages, but I haven't given it a thorough test.

LINGERING COMPLAINTS: Still no "script" command (would be unnecessary, I  
suppose, if I could get scrolling turned on in the Cygwin window!). Would  
like a better debugger. The string class is incompatible with ifstream and  
ofstream (e.g., "string s; ifstream in; cin >> s; in.open(s);" doesn't work).

REQUEST FOR COMMENTS: the disk build is nearly complete; I'd like to change  
it as little as possible. But I'd sure like to have a "script" command and a  
good (maybe visual?) debugger. I don't know Tcl/Tk, but IF the tcl/tk stuff  
is already there in the cygwin distribution and there's a visual debugger  
that I could download and install with minimum effort, I'd learn it. Anything  
else simple I ought to add? (We've got vi and emacs.) (Remember--this is for  
an INTRO programming class. We don't need ssh and VC++ compatibility and  
....) Is there a good reason to install the latest egcs if my programs from  
last year are working okay under B20? Also, before anyone suggests it, yes,  
we've looked at environments like Code Warrior, etc. Right now our labs are  
in a state of flux, so we're taking the Gnu route for the time being.

And can somebody tell me what coolview does? I can't tell any difference  
with or without the coolview stuff; I just know that the web pages say it's a  
"must have" add-on, but without really explaining what it does.

Thanks. Apologies in advance for faqs or dumb questions.

Bob Roos
rroos AT alleg DOT edu

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