[Year 12 Its] REALbasic 4 Mac, Win & now Linux

[Donna Benjamin]

Hi all,

I just discovered that REALsoftware have released a public beta of
REALbasic for linux.  You can also download a demo for the mac and
windows versions.

As I was perusing their website (I've used REALbasic on the mac ages
ago) I discovered this page focussed on teaching programming
http://www.realsoftware.com/users/education/
http://www.realsoftware.com/users/learn/

and not only that, they've apparently developed a curriculum for
secondary school students with little or no programming experience and
you can download it here:
http://www.realsoftware.com/users/education/curriculum/

REALbasic is a serious alternative to VB with the added advantage that
it's truly cross-platform. They have a showcase of software developed
with REALbasic - here's the page that jumps direct to 'educational
software'.
http://www.realsoftware.com/community/showcase/education/

I'll copy and paste the curriculum outline below.

Hope some of you find this useful!
cheers
Donna.

PS. DISCLAIMER - apologies if this sounds like a bit of an advertisement
- I'm just excited because I reckon this is a really cool product. I
have absolutely nothing to gain from telling you about it, and am not
connected with Real or their Australian distributor in anyway.

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Curriculum Outline
     1. Introduction Create and run a simple REALbasic application.
        Learn how REALbasic works.
     2. Expressions, Assignments, & Types Perform simple calculations.
        Learn about different REALbasic data types.
     3. Conditionals and the Debugger Get REALbasic to make simple
        decisions. Follow as REALbasic executes code by using the
        debugger.
     4. Variables and Loops Store information and repeat actions. Create
        a new project that repeats an action.
     5. Modules, Methods, and Recursion Learn the basics of using
        modules, methods, and recursion.
     6. Arrays & Strings Learn the basics of manipulating strings. Learn
        how to use arrays. View an example of an algorithm.
     7. Algorithms Develop and write algorithms.
     8. Abstract Data Types Learn about object-oriented programming.
        Examine how and why to create our own data types.
     9. Polymorphism Learn to use polymorphism to simplify code.
    10. Eliza Create and run a more complex program than in Lesson 1.
    11. Events & Controls Explore more of REALbasicÍs object-oriented
        programming (OOP) features.
    12. Interfaces Examine the interface (the last major OOP feature).
    13. Bubble Sort Examine different ways of sorting. Learn about
        efficiency in programming. Look at a more broad range of code.
    14. Insertion Sort Observe another sorting algorithm. Build a
        program to compare different algorithms.
    15. Refining the Insertion Sort Focus on a variation on the
        insertion sort. Construct a framework to compare different
        algorithms' speed. Use framework created to see if new variation
        is faster.
    16. Quicksort Study the Quicksort, one of the fastest sorting
        algorithms known, and compare it to other sorting algorithms.
    17. Exceptions, Constructors, Overloading Look at one major subject,
        exceptions. Learn a few extras about constructors and
        overloading.
    18. File Enumerator Put concepts learned so far together into a
        useful project.
    19. Data Structures Make version of File Enumerator that can handle
        folder aliases. Examine different data structures for storing
        and searching a list of strings.
    20. File Enumerator 2 Pull results from last project into file
        enumerator project. Refine the file enumerator.
    21. Hashing Combine a simple data structure called a hash table.
    22. Method Overriding & Software Design Build a hashing class using
        method overriding. Apply different development methodologies.
    23. Events vs. Overriding Develop the class hierarchy from the last
        lesson using Events.
    24. Threads Introduce the important topic of threads.
    25. Cyclic Redundancy Check Explore binary arithmetic.
    26. RPN Calculator Build a simple reverse polish notation (RPN)
        calculator. Introduce the Model-View-Controller software design
        paradigm.
    27. RPN Calculator Example Make calculator from last lesson
        programmable with RBScript.
    28. Graphics I Produce a class hierarchy for generating and
        displaying a graphic.
    29. Communications Develop a simple application to demonstrate the
        use of TCP ports.
    30. Simulation and Animation Construct a SpriteSurface with a
        collection of the chevrons from earlier lessons. See advantages
        of object orientation.