Online code editor for beginner's PHP class

[doznot]

Let's say you want to use Moodle to teach an introductory class in PHP
programming. Some of the students have little or no computer experience.

In addition to background reading and topics-oriented assignments
supplied by Moodle, you want to build an online text editor into the
course, so students can type their PHP programs and HTML directly into
files on the server, so they don't have to fight with NotePad on Windows
PCs in a lab, and so beginning students don't have to fight with FTP to
get their work onto the webserver.

You could make a form: (no error checking etc. for simplicity)
$path =
$_GET['dirpath']. '/myassignment';
echo '<form action="'.$_SER VER['PHP_SELF'].'" method="post">< br>
<textarea name="editor">' .@file_get_cont ents($path).'</textarea>
<input type="submit"></form>';

if($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD '] == 'POST')
{
$fp = fopen($path,"w" );
fwrite($fp,$_PO ST['editor']);
fclose($fp);
}

Most developers like to clean user input with addslashes or htmlentities
in the POST processing. But if you do that in the "online code editor"
case you get code that won't run or display. So, if you do not
addslashes, but you still want to cover your bases, what are the issues?

Students would have to login (password) to get access to the editor. So
this editor is not available to the world at large. But trusting
passworded students still may not be a good idea. fopen would have to be
limited to specific location patterns. Perhaps you would have to use
regular expressions to look for javascript, and then to strip it out.
But what do you do if you want to teach javascript? Is an online editor
any more dangerous than letting students upload code via FTP?

[Jerry Stuckle]

doznot wrote:

Let's say you want to use Moodle to teach an introductory class in PHP
programming. Some of the students have little or no computer experience.

That's a disaster waiting to happen right there.

In addition to background reading and topics-oriented assignments
supplied by Moodle, you want to build an online text editor into the
course, so students can type their PHP programs and HTML directly into
files on the server, so they don't have to fight with NotePad on Windows
PCs in a lab, and so beginning students don't have to fight with FTP to
get their work onto the webserver.

Very bad idea. They should be working on their own systems. Why do you
need the programs on a server, anyway?

But you could allow them to edit on their own server and upload via http
if necessary.

You could make a form: (no error checking etc. for simplicity)
$path =
$_GET['dirpath']. '/myassignment';
echo '<form action="'.$_SER VER['PHP_SELF'].'" method="post">< br>
<textarea name="editor">' .@file_get_cont ents($path).'</textarea>
<input type="submit"></form>';

if($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD '] == 'POST')
{
$fp = fopen($path,"w" );
fwrite($fp,$_PO ST['editor']);
fclose($fp);
}

Most developers like to clean user input with addslashes or htmlentities
in the POST processing. But if you do that in the "online code editor"
case you get code that won't run or display. So, if you do not
addslashes, but you still want to cover your bases, what are the issues?

If you're going to display the code in a browser, htmlentities() is a
must. Forget addslashes().

Students would have to login (password) to get access to the editor. So
this editor is not available to the world at large. But trusting
passworded students still may not be a good idea. fopen would have to be
limited to specific location patterns. Perhaps you would have to use
regular expressions to look for javascript, and then to strip it out.
But what do you do if you want to teach javascript? Is an online editor
any more dangerous than letting students upload code via FTP?

Not a good idea at all.

If you absolutely must, give each student their own virtual server and
limit their access to just that directory.

But I would say this is the wrong way to go.

--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
js*******@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

[doznot]

Editing on their own box? I suppose. NotePad never seems to save
files in the same place twice, so absolute beginning students spend
half the day looking for the file they just edited.
Virtual servers is a good idea. I'll look into that.

They can learn to ssh into their virtual server and use vi or emacs
a semester later, but not in the first week of PHP 101.

[Jerry Stuckle]

doznot wrote:

>
Editing on their own box? I suppose. NotePad never seems to save
files in the same place twice, so absolute beginning students spend
half the day looking for the file they just edited.
Virtual servers is a good idea. I'll look into that.

They can learn to ssh into their virtual server and use vi or emacs
a semester later, but not in the first week of PHP 101.

Sure notepad saves the files in the same place twice. It saves the
files to the same directory as the last time it saved a file.

Or, better yet, get them a decent editor. I personally prefer Crimsom
editor for PHP.

In 20 years of training, I have never forced my students to save files
on a server. They all work off their own machines.

--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
js*******@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

[Jerry Stuckle]

doznot wrote:

>
Editing on their own box? I suppose. NotePad never seems to save
files in the same place twice, so absolute beginning students spend
half the day looking for the file they just edited.
Virtual servers is a good idea. I'll look into that.

They can learn to ssh into their virtual server and use vi or emacs
a semester later, but not in the first week of PHP 101.

I should qualify that - if you start notepad from a command line, i.e.
"notepad myfile.php", it will store the file in the current directory.

--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
js*******@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

[doznot]

I won't divulge much in the way of details.
But I'm working in rural schools with limited resources.
I have a central server, but the client computers the students
use are Windows labs, hundreds of miles away, in multiple schools,
with ancient browsers that I have no control over. I am not
allowed to install new editors on those remote boxes.

Why do I want them to save code on my server? So the students
can instantly see their work displayed. When they are
hundreds of miles away, working on machines I can not
control, uploading homework assignments to a remote
server, or editing via some hacked form, is the only way.

Virtual machines and a name server would be best way
to go. I'll have to get that together soon.

In the meantime I've got it hacked so their "save"
attempts fail, if not attempted in a fixed location,
on a per-student basis, involving $_SESSION['username'];

[Geoff Berrow]

Message-ID: <4-*************** *************** @bresnan.comfro m doznot
contained the following:

I am not
allowed to install new editors on those remote boxes.

You can get a small, lightweight editor that does not need to be
installed. It's called Notepad2 and is absolutely brilliant. I would
never inflict Notepad on my students.

You can get it here http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html
--
Geoff Berrow 011000100110110 0010000000110
001101101011011 001000110111101 100111001011
100110001101101 111001011100111 010101101011
http://slipperyhill.co.uk - http://4theweb.co.uk

[doznot]

Geoff Berrow wrote:

Message-ID: <4-*************** *************** @bresnan.comfro m doznot
contained the following:

>I am not
allowed to install new editors on those remote boxes.

You can get a small, lightweight editor that does not need to be
installed.

....I'm not sure what this means: " does not need to be installed "
If it is a windows exe, then it has to be installed on the client
box somehow, no? And in my case, the client boxes are hundreds of
miles away.

[Jerry Stuckle]

doznot wrote:

>

I won't divulge much in the way of details.
But I'm working in rural schools with limited resources.
I have a central server, but the client computers the students
use are Windows labs, hundreds of miles away, in multiple schools,
with ancient browsers that I have no control over. I am not
allowed to install new editors on those remote boxes.

Why do I want them to save code on my server? So the students
can instantly see their work displayed. When they are
hundreds of miles away, working on machines I can not
control, uploading homework assignments to a remote
server, or editing via some hacked form, is the only way.

Virtual machines and a name server would be best way
to go. I'll have to get that together soon.

In the meantime I've got it hacked so their "save"
attempts fail, if not attempted in a fixed location,
on a per-student basis, involving $_SESSION['username'];

Trying to teach non-computer literate people a programming language
remotely? That a prescription for failure before you even begin.

People need a few skills before even beginning to program. Basic
computer literacy is one of them. An understanding of programming
principles is another.
--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
js*******@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

[Curtis]

doznot wrote:

>
Editing on their own box? I suppose. NotePad never seems to save
files in the same place twice, so absolute beginning students spend
half the day looking for the file they just edited.
Virtual servers is a good idea. I'll look into that.

They can learn to ssh into their virtual server and use vi or emacs
a semester later, but not in the first week of PHP 101.

You're putting the cart before the horse. If your students can't even
use a text editor and save/find files, they're doomed to fail at
becoming decent programmers. It sounds like some of them should be
referred to some computer basics course before pursuing programming.

To learn the basics of PHP, one doesn't even need a server, as it can
be done from the command line.

--
Curtis