The second of the "four freedoms" of free software is
> The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish.
That is particularly important for students of computer science -- what better way to see how all kinds of software works than by reading and modifying its source code?
I'm surprised if a "standard course" doesn't mostly use free software. Mine certainly did, I remember only a single module where we used a commercial software package (something for hardware simulation). I've never felt that this has limited me in any way. One module had us modifying the Linux kernel.
> The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish.
That is particularly important for students of computer science -- what better way to see how all kinds of software works than by reading and modifying its source code?
I'm surprised if a "standard course" doesn't mostly use free software. Mine certainly did, I remember only a single module where we used a commercial software package (something for hardware simulation). I've never felt that this has limited me in any way. One module had us modifying the Linux kernel.