This looks great and I would love to use it for both SICP and learning how to draw. I don't mind paying for online services like these. However, I don't have an iPad, but I do have an iphone and an MBA. Where does that leave me and all the other potential customers like me?
Show HN: Learning SICP with Understudy
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Re: Show HN: Learning SICP with Understudy
#12I'm not sure I'm convinced of the payment model...
Charging for human interaction seems like a losing proposition... What's to stop a competitor from coming along, doing the same thing, but removing the cost?
And what does the cost represent? Server drain? use of the drawing platform? there's gotta be a better business model out there... maybe you can integrate with amazon and make this a more general read-with-friends kind of thing and sell the reading pattern data (that seems like it would be valuable to companies like amazon or barnes & noble)...?
Re: Show HN: Learning SICP with Understudy
#13To repeat what I said in the SICP thread from a couple of days ago:
Folks, you don't need proprietary software or an iThing to get help with SICP. Hop on #scheme on freenode and check out http://schemers.org/ for resources.
Get yourself a good Scheme implementation like GNU Guile or Racket and get hacking.
Re: Show HN: Learning SICP with Understudy
#14To repeat what I said in the SICP thread from a couple of days ago: Folks, you don't need proprietary software or an iThing to get help with SICP. Hop on #scheme on freenode and check out http://schemers.org/ for resources. Get yourself a good Scheme implementation like GNU Guile or Racket and get hacking.
In Racket, which Scheme?
Re: Show HN: Learning SICP with Understudy
#15To repeat what I said in the SICP thread from a couple of days ago: Folks, you don't need proprietary software or an iThing to get help with SICP. Hop on #scheme on freenode and check out http://schemers.org/ for resources. Get yourself a good Scheme implementation like GNU Guile or Racket and get hacking.
I do love IRC, but what Understudy gives you is a one-to-one relationship with another person who cares.
It means that Thursday evening, when you're tired, it's easier to pick yourself up and work, because doing so gets you a _better_conversation_ on Saturday. I'm a cellist - this comes from private music lessons.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom's_2_Sigma_Problem . In that study, the median person learning one-to-one performed at the 98th percentile in a control group. That's huge!
Re: Show HN: Learning SICP with Understudy
#16To repeat what I said in the SICP thread from a couple of days ago: Folks, you don't need proprietary software or an iThing to get help with SICP. Hop on #scheme on freenode and check out http://schemers.org/ for resources. Get yourself a good Scheme implementation like GNU Guile or Racket and get hacking.
In Racket, which Scheme?
This one! http://www.neilvandyke.org/racket-sicp/
#lang planet neil/sicpRe: Show HN: Learning SICP with Understudy
#17Just as a few other comments have mentioned, I'm interested but I don't have an iPad or any tablet for that matter.
Re: Show HN: Learning SICP with Understudy
#18Just as a few other comments have mentioned, I'm interested but I don't have an iPad or any tablet for that matter.
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Re: Show HN: Learning SICP with Understudy
#19This looks great and I would love to use it for both SICP and learning how to draw. I don't mind paying for online services like these. However, I don't have an iPad, but I do have an iphone and an MBA. Where does that leave me and all the other potential customers like me?
Sorry about that! The thing is, a tablet is very well suited to the whiteboard, and we find that the whiteboard _really_ helps for this kind of working collaboration.
It makes it very natural to gesture and discuss visually.
Understudy works in proportion to how good of a connection it fosters. You really want the tool to vanish, and to forget that you're not really in the same room. For non-work stuff, like talking to my parents, the phone does decently at that for me, but for trying to collaborate videochat is not very effective, in my experience.
Understudy's whiteboard/videochat does do it for me.
(As far as Android vs iPad – well, have to start somewhere! Also, I worked at Apple for 7 years, so it's definitely the environment where I'm quickest.)
Re: Show HN: Learning SICP with Understudy
#20To repeat what I said in the SICP thread from a couple of days ago: Folks, you don't need proprietary software or an iThing to get help with SICP. Hop on #scheme on freenode and check out http://schemers.org/ for resources. Get yourself a good Scheme implementation like GNU Guile or Racket and get hacking.
I have no idea about this software for iThings, so maybe it's great and helps with stuff. I have no way to know.
But your way is the way I can recommend.
Still, I give them the benefit of the doubt that their software may be helpful. I'm not going to get an iPad for it though.