Introducing Cobra

[Andrew Lentvorski]

Ralph Shumaker wrote:

> IDE?  I keep seeing that term used but never spelled out, and from the 
> context, all I can gather is that it is some kind of special editing 
> program or programming environment.  (I kept waiting for someone to 
> elaborate, but if anyone has, I've missed it, or forgotten.)

IDE--Integrated Development Environment

Generally a tool which makes perfectly serviceable command line tools 
into point-and-drool idiocy.

See eclipse:
http://www.eclipse.org/

That's a bit harsh.  I find Eclipse to be remarkably useful at 
times--generally when I need an environment that both Windows users and 
Unix users can coexist peacefully.Eclipse gives the *doze people peace 
of mind and a point-and-clicky interface while invisibly running the 
command line commands underneath that the *nix folks actually use.

My students all get shown how to use Eclipse and they seem to take to it 
rather readily.  It gives them a syntax highlighting editor, a file 
manager window, a compiler window, a debugger and source control all via 
point-and-drool.

When they need to do something like rename 40 files or move a text table 
into a has table and start asking "Isn't there a better way?", then I 
tear aside the curtain and introduce them to man behind it.

-a