[bluGill]

Sure, but even one assumption limits innovation. Even if the innovation is stupid, learning the hard way is useful, so I want at least one student every few years to try that stupid thing and then from personal experience tell the others why it didn't work out.

If we were talking about a serious project there are a lot of best practices that should be rarely (and then only carefully) questioned, but for something intended to be thrown away at the end of the semester challenging best practices is a great way to learn.

That said, PS/2 is a simplifying assumption as well.