Re: Mounting filesystems and such

>> I'm leaning toward one of two IDEs; NetBeans and BlueJ. I just 
>> stumbled across BlueJ...

Two other simple tools:

(1)
Another simple tool (I have not tried) is Sugar. Built for Mac OS 
X, but the author offers to do a build for other platforms if you 
ask.
===
Sugar is a simple, easy-to-use Java development environment 
originally intended for use in an educational setting, but also 
makes working with small to medium projects easy. Just write the 
code and press the "Run" button without worrying about classpaths, 
Jar files or the command line.
===
http://www.switchedonsoftware.com/sugar/
http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=15397&db=mac

(2)
Another utterly simple Java edit-and-compile tools is JJedit. 
Written in Apple's Cocoa framework, this is for Mac OS X only.
http://homepage.mac.com/jmacmullin/

> We've also talked a bit about the idea of "education builds" - 
> basically
> a NetBeans build with all of the bells and whistles stripped out - just
> basic compile, edit, debug, no form editor, nothing but the most basic
> and critical functionality.

This is a *fantastic* idea. The people I've talked with who have 
disliked NetBeans were put off by the overwhelming and clunky user 
interface. A simple version would make a first-time user's 
experience much more positive.

I would not call such a beast an "educational" version, but rather 
something like "Personal" edition. This would somewhat akin to 
Borland's "Personal" versus "Standard" editions.

Even better than a separate version would by an option during 
installation or first-run to engage a limited user-interface while 
allowing the user the ability to switch gears to a more 
feature-laden UI later.

>> So this list is for those teaching Java and not just NetBeans? 
>> Cool. I'll be here a lot, I image.
>
> Well, I confess, yours is the first post in a while - but I am 
> committed
> to seeing this project be a success, and perhaps we can get some more
> happening here.  And if your colleagues are quiet, maybe a few of them
> would sign up for this list and could be drawn out a bit?

FYI, at JavaOne a couple years ago there was a BOF (Birds Of A 
Feather) on teaching Java in High Schools. It was very successful 
with standing room only for two or three dozen people.

--Basil Bourque