Comment by hackyhacky
6 hours ago
I've been using Canvas for years and it's some of the worst written software I've ever used. It's slow, buggy, with an atrocious 2001-era UI. It's a CRUD app that has no excuse for being so cumbersome. I'm not surprised at all that their security is just as bad as the rest of the product.
A bright undergrad could build a superior replacement in a few months, even without AI.
I won't disagree on usability. It has some sharp edges for sure. But
> A bright undergrad could build a superior replacement in a few months, even without AI.
Is quite naive. Canvas is not at all just a crud app. You can view the code yourself as it's AGPL
What component in particular goes substantially beyond CRUD?
It is a very common error to look at a specialist piece of software, superficially consider the basic data structure it appears to have and think ‘seems simple enough. Basic CRUD app.’
But it’s rarely the case in practice.
In a sibling comment right here for example someone bemoaned the difficulty in Canvas of having two TAs simultaneously grade separate parts of the same assignment. That sounds like something that goes beyond CRUD.
But more importantly any workflow system, which an LMS will be full of, has to handle the always tricky problem of how changes to workflows affect the things that are currently in the workflow. Assignments posted in course X need to be approved by person Y; some assignments are submitted for approval; person Y goes on leave and now the approval needs to be person Z. Not a simple CRUD problem.
These are things that occur to me with only a moment’s consideration of what an LMS system might need to deal with. The actual domain probably has considerable more complexity that I can’t even imagine.
7 replies →