[gcompris-devel] Re: Wishes for 2003

[Herman Bruyninckx]

On 7 Jan 2003, Bruno Coudoin wrote:

[...]
> > To improve:
> > - modularity of code: separate logic of a game from the graphical widget
> >   set. (In order to improve portability and cleanliness of code.)
> That's already the case but some activity do not have associated data
> because sometimes it doesn't make sense. For example the time reading
> (clock) is designed to do time reading and only that. I don't see what
> it could to more.
I can :-) For example, I would think it's useful to use the same board
for clock arithmetic: ask the kid to add twenty minutes to the current
time, etc.

[...]
> > - documentation for users:
> >   - on line: help with a board.
> We have a great infrastructure in gcompris to do this with the xml
> boards definitions.
The infrastructure is fine indeed, but the contents is not comparable to
commercial applications :-) I know that this is a hard comparison to
make, but consider it as a complement on the level that GCompris has
reached already :-) And of course, I should volunteer to help you
out....

> Now and this is new, still from the xml, I create a great open office
> documentation ready to be printed and distributed to teachers.
> Today only in french:
> http://www.ofset.org/gcompris/gcompris-maitre-fr.sxg
> http://www.ofset.org/gcompris/gcompris-manuel.sxw
I see no point in given documentation in OpenOffice format! It's not
because it is an open format that it is a useful format. Documentation
to users should be in HTML and/or PDF, not in a text processor format.

> So what we miss is one person willing to help us write the documentation
> when it is missing.
Indeed....

> Also at ofset, we want to use 'education' terms in order to close the
> gap beetween software and the teachers.
> This requires to have 'real teacher' helping us on that.
Indeed... Therefore I expect a lot form the inclusion of GCompris in
such CD compilations such as FreeDUC and Knoppix...

> > - develop/adapt a "motion description" API, in order to build more
> >   dynamic boards.
> No sure what you mean here.
> gcompris is based on the gnome canvas that makes this kind of thinks
> easy but not 'smooth'.
Indeed, the SDL (Simple Direct Media Layer) is a platform-independent
API to program animation. I think it is worthwhile for this portability
alone, but also for its more advanced animation features than Gnome.
There are some quick tutorials at
 <http://www.libsdl.org/tutorials.php>
Of course, Gnome has also become somewhat portable.

> > - stability: all versions till now do crash from time to time. And they
> >   take my Gnome environment with them...
> Oops.
> I also saw gcompris crashed but it has never bring gnome in my case.
I've been looking several times for the reason, but I can't find it :-(

> I agree to focus on stability but I need help from others.
> Send me bug reports, stack traces and so on to help me track the bugs.
I will, as soon as I can reproduce the bug in a repeatable way. It is of
course very well possible that the real cause lies somewhere else than
in GCompris.

> > More activity:
> > - more contents (jig saws, math quizes, ...)
> Of course, I spend most of my time doing this and I can't do more so:
> any coders out there please help us ;)
Yes, please do! (I'm talking to myself here :-)

> For info, since the creation of gcompris, we have now more than 40
> different activities. This is a 2.5 year old project.
> Gcompris creates new activity at a rate of let's say ONE/MONTH.
> I am prety happy with this ;)
Of course! Congratulations by the way. But you asked for suggestions,
didn't you :-) Maybe some focued advocacy actions towards a students
public could be successful, especially if there is some price involved.
I am willing to donate for example 100EUR for this purpose, and if other
people join in a cash price of let's say 1000EUR in combination with
lots of noise on the Linux channels could get the necessary interest :-)

>
> > - cooperation with other projects, in order to share code and
> >   experiences. (Tuxpaint comes to my mind as an obvious candidate,
> >   because both projects target the same user group.)
> Tuxpaint is a great project. I got many good review of it. Now I don't
> see in what we could cooperate.
Seems obvious to me: in the same way you integrated the maze board form
a stand-alone project, you could integrate tux-paint as the
replacement of/addition to the simple drawing board in GCompris.

> BTW, some attend to cooperate with the KDE EDU team failed. They are KDE
> oriented and are not interrested to improve a gnome application.

That's one of the reasons why a Gnome/KDE independent library such as
SDL makes sense: the basic contents of the project are independent of
the "big two", and all you need is some GNome and KDE wrappers.

Herman

-- 
  K.U.Leuven, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics Research Group
<http://people.mech.kuleuven.ac.be/~bruyninc> Tel: +32 16 322480