Re: [school-discuss] District DNA Getting Started Guide

["James Smyth" <jimsmyth@attbi.com>]

My concentration now is functionality. I have been writing this kind of
software for 20+ years in small districts up to the size of Washington D.C.
public schools. We keep starting over in this business. My first package was
in Pascal, then I wrote one in the Progress 4GL and now this. Each time I
had to recode old functionality (basic grades, attendance, scheduling) over
again just to get back to where I was. This is largely designed so that the
database (backend), processing logic (middle) and user interface (front end)
are separate. Hopefully nothing will have to be re-written from scratch
again. All that might be required is a new user interface as technology
changes.

Even with all this does (and I'm not aware of even any commercial packages
that do as much) it does less than 50% of what a large district needs to do
(even if they don't know it). I'm working to provide that because that is
what I want to do; improve education by improving the usability and flow of
information.

I'm hoping that others will add a different user interface (DNA has a single
form outlook type, Mass Sped is multi-form) such as web, Linux, small school
etc. to it. It is clearly more than I can do myself and still move forward.

As far as OpenOffice goes I do not know anything about it, but I would be
happy to look at that or any other spell checking system. I just wasn't go
to spend my time writing one.

Jim Smyth

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steelhead" <bill@ries-knight.net>
To: <schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net>
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2003 3:11 PM
Subject: Re: [school-discuss] District DNA Getting Started Guide


> Would you consider looking at OpenOffice  as an optional replacement for
> Word / MS Office?   That option is it is open source and much cheaper for
> schools to use.
> Just looking to more flexibility.
>
> Bill
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "James Smyth" <smyth@northeast.tec.ma.us>
> To: <schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2003 11:30 AM
> Subject: RE: [school-discuss] District DNA Getting Started Guide
>
>
> > My software the client side runs on win32 platforms at this time. There
> > is a version of Delphi that run on Linux called Kylex, but I have not
> > tried it and I doubt that all the components that I use would work under
> > Linux. One for sure is the spelling checker. For spell checking I
> > basically call MS Word. The software will run without MS Word but you
> > will not be able to spell check. This mainly affects IEPs (Individual
> > Education Plans) where there is a lot of free hand text.
> >
> > I use many OS (Windows, MAC, Linux, Unix etc). I take no position on any
> > of them. They are just platforms for my programs. I use Delphi because I
> > teach it and I have not seen any other system which allows one person to
> > achieve so much and has the performance to schedule a large school in
> > under 30 seconds.
> >
> > James P. Smyth
> > Technology Coordinator
> > Northeast Metropolitan School District
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net
> > [mailto:owner-schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net] On Behalf Of
> > Steelhead
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2003 2:19 PM
> > To: schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net
> > Subject: Re: [school-discuss] District DNA Getting Started Guide
> >
> > That means there is a server (for running the Firebird database) and a
> > client (for running my software). The client must run Windows 2000 or
> > better, the server can run anything that runs Firebird (Linux, Windows
> > 2000
> > etc).
> >
> > By better, do you mean Linux?
> >
> > Bill
> > (Yes it is outlook on Winxp)
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Smyth, James" <smyth@northeast.tec.ma.us>
> > To: <schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net>
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2003 10:44 AM
> > Subject: [school-discuss] District DNA Getting Started Guide
> >
> >
> > > I have posted a getting started guide on my web site
> > www.districtdna.com
> > > <http://www.districtdna.com/>  . It is a large system (287 tables in
> > the
> > > database) and it takes a bit to get started. I hope I have remembered
> > > everything but if you have problems drop me a e-mail.
> > >
> > >
> > > Good luck.
> > >
> > > James P. Smyth
> > > Technology Coordinator
> > > Northeast Metropolitan School District
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >  (Yes it is outlook on Winxp)
> >
> >
>
>