Re: RDi learning curve

I teach RDP. Here's what I tell potential clients:

1. Make sure your people can use Notepad, Wordpad and/or Microsoft Word. If they're unfamiliar with the basic keyboard and mouse skills used for these programs, then they will be immediately and perhaps irrevocably frustrated with RDP.

2. If you really want to give your users a headstart, have them download, install and USE Eclipse. Go through the tutorials to program a simple Java program. Someone who understands Eclipse has a significantly better chance of being successful with RDP. Use a book or an online tutorial:

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/eclipse/

3. In any group of ten, on average two will be enthusiastic and will take the tool and run with it and two won't want to be bothered no matter what. It's the six in the middle that the class is really for and if you approaching your training budget with that mindset, you'll be happy with the result.

Joe

I came from a background of using IDE. So overall it isn't a problem for me...

But some of the typical things I get:
How do I open a member?
How come some many windows (views)
Why so many shortcuts keys? How do you remember them all?
Why can't I just cut & paste like SEU?
Too hard to navigate
Why learn it now, that I retire in less than 1-year, you are YOUNG, you can handle it.
I only need to make a 2-line change, why open up RDP?
Performance is too slow.(Yet they have weather bug installed, and 12-Open windows!)

Yes, all of these have very simple answers...

But, like a lot of companies, we have had a cut back in our development staff of about 350% in the past 4-years, and the work-load keeps getting bigger. So, the "Fudge/Learning" time has been cut down...

We have had 2 developers who were using RDP, and went back to SEU, because RDP is "too complicated". Mostly they say they don't know how to navigate to do simple things. They do NOT give me specifics...

I have been using WDSC/RDP/RDI for over 7-years. It covers all my programming needs and more! But, it took me while to get really comfortable with this IDE.


-Ken Killian-


-----Original Message-----
From: wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Buck Calabro
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 10:47 AM
To: wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [WDSCI-L] RDi learning curve (was: RDi Lite?)

On 6/25/2013 9:58 AM, Ken Killian wrote:

Count me in as a BIG FAN of Rational Developer & Eclipse. But, the initial learning curve is HUGE! It is hard to get newbie productive on it right away....

I've been using multiple IDEs for so long (work, home) that I can't remember what my learning curve was like. Although I would think that if any of them had a *huge* learning curve, I'd have remembered it.
Maybe not.

What did you think made for a huge learning curve?
--buck
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