LWN: Comments on "SchoolTool 1.0 released"

SchoolTool 1.0 released

oak — 2009-05-10T18:48:44+00:00

> tool is primararily a derogatory term for overachievers, bookworms, what
have you. It suggests a certain social nonfunctionality to working hard.

Well, doesn't the name then fit the program well? Programs definitely
should be hard-working and on human scale computers are pretty
antisocial...

SchoolTool 1.0 released

MattPerry — 2009-05-03T19:56:12+00:00

> Of course, schoolchildren are prone to prefer the slang definitions of words

School children aren't the intended audience for this software. They likely will never know it exists. I had never heard of the slang definition and I thought that SchoolTool was a descriptive and fitting name.

SchoolTool 1.0 released

k8to — 2009-05-02T02:24:48+00:00

In the american scholastic context, tool is primararily a derogatory term for overachievers, bookworms, what have you. It suggests a certain social nonfunctionality to working hard. The word is sometimes knowingly self-applied or used as a verb.

Really, tool as insult is more common in many scholastic environments than tool in the sense of "power tools".

That said, I think the name doesn't matter that much. It's for teachers, not students.

SchoolTool 1.0 released

amk — 2009-05-01T21:10:57+00:00

Sure, there's a slang meaning, but people also use the word 'tool' in its usual sense all the time. "Unix Power Tools". "Unix Backup Tool". Kernighan & Plauger's classic book "Software Tools" (not a rollicking satire of software development). SchoolTool seems an unobjectionable choice for a name.

SchoolTool 1.0 released

clugstj — 2009-05-01T21:01:07+00:00

I quoted the dictionary because it was nearby. The connotation of the word "tool" in the name struck me before that.

SchoolTool 1.0 released

jspaleta — 2009-05-01T18:50:45+00:00

It looks like SchoolTool has been working on supporting the SIF specification for interoperability with other applications so thats a very good thing to see. http://www.sifinfo.org/us/index.asp

But its not clear how far along that SIF support is. Hopefully Schooltool can be SIF certified sooner rather than later.

-jef

SchoolTool 1.0 released

pboddie — 2009-05-01T17:27:12+00:00

Because the first dictionary everyone turns to is the "New Dictionary of American Slang"? There are other dictionaries, you know.

(Of course, schoolchildren are prone to prefer the slang definitions of words, but one would imagine that the desired connotations would have something to do with the popular 1990s term "cool tool".)

SchoolTool 1.0 released

clugstj — 2009-05-01T17:18:02+00:00

Who came up with this name? Some "tool" no doubt. According to the "New Dictionary of American Slang" (c. 1986), the first three definitions are: 1) the penis, 2) a pickpocket, 3) a stupid and gullible person.