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Re: gEDA-user: geda cygwin package



On Thu, 2009-05-14 at 13:25 -0400, al davis wrote:

> Educators typically use simulators very poorly, as if they 
> themselves don't understand.  In most cases, the total use is a 
> few specified runs with a couple of graphs, that you do after 
> everything else is done.  A more appropriate use of simulators 
> is to explore things that you can't see with real measurements.  
> There is a lot that you can find out about a circuit that you 
> can't measure in a practical way.
> 
> Students need to learn to be flexible, and they need to learn to 
> use computers effectively, not just by kicking the GUI a few 
> times.  EE's, even analog designers, need to learn some serious 
> programming.
> 

You're right, of course. In mitigation let me say that the particular
course for which I use swcad (LTSpice) is 4 x 2hr sessions for a dozen
students who've never seen an electronic cad package before. I try to
give them an understanding of the process from design to schematic to
test by simulation to pcb. I use gschem/gattrib/gsch2pcb/pcb and swcad.
The choice of swcad was a compromise to give me a better chance of
fitting it all in. It just gives them a taster for what might be
possible using simulation.

Sorry if I've started a swcad/gnucap/windows/linux war. I just happened
to have something I annually spend some time putting together and
suddenly realised that it might be useful to someone else.

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter Baxendale                       University of Durham
peter.baxendale@xxxxxxxxxxxx          School of Engineering
tel +44 191 33 42492                  South Road
fax +44 191 33 42408                  Durham DH1 3LE
                                      England
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