Say it ain't so regarding "Save" command!

[Sterling Beckwith]

> Sure. There are any number of ways to do this. Rev would be a pretty
> sorry excuse for an app builder if you couldn't.
>
> The problem you've run across is that applications can't modify
> themselves. This isn't something that's peculiar to rev - it's built
> into the operating system. So you need to do something else.
>
> One way would be to save data in text files. Or use a database. Or
> some other format as an external file.
>

Some rather vague mentions of Papert et al. a while back on this list  
missed the main point, I thought, about the difference between the  
approach he once championed and the fairly UN-revolutionary one being  
touted here.

Teachers struggling to master the intricacies of a "powerful" app- 
builder in order to create finished, stand-alone programs for  
students to USE.  Isn't that notion of computer-based learning rather  
a far cry from giving kids the tools to build and modify their OWN  
collection of self-made programs?  I can't remember having to worry  
about substacks or databases in the old LOGO days.  Are you so sure  
the promise of programming in Runrev is really progress, rather than  
just another way to add to the burden of teachers but avoid involving  
and empowering the learners?

     -Sterling Beckwith
     York University, Toronto