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From: "Tim Behrendsen" <tim@airshields.com>
Subject: Re: What's the best language to learn? [was Re: Should I learn C or
 Pascal?]
Date: 1996/08/18
Message-ID: <01bb8d2e$5a5a4ce0$32ee6fce@timhome2>#1/1
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references: <01bb89f1$31be4f60$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com>
 <4v1pnf$8du@zeus.orl.mmc.com>
 <01bb8c70$8f711800$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com>
 <dewar.840342288@schonberg>
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 comp.edu,comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.unix.programmer
Date: 1996-08-18T00:00:00+00:00
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Robert Dewar <dewar@cs.nyu.edu> wrote in article
<dewar.840342288@schonberg>...
> Tim says
> 
> "Because I've found that people tend to stick with the first
> [dare I use the word] paradigm that they are introduced to.
> Everything else they learn will be compared against the first
> thing they learn"
> 
> How true is this? Certainly true to some extent, and is of course
> the fundamental reason why it is a huge mistake to teach assembly
> to begin with.
> 
> Still lukcily this can remain a moot issue, no one I know of seriously
> proposes teaching CS this way, and no school I know of teaches CS this
> way, so we do not have to worry about it.

I suppose I should be happy about this, since I can continue
to test for the bright students, and my competition can hire
my rejects.

But I can't imagine that you're happy with the level of
competence of CS graduates.  If EE students can be taught
from the bottom up, and seem to be so better prepared than
CS students (I don't hear the same level of complaints, in
any case), isn't it time to try something that is working
elsewhere?

- SIGH - I need to open my own CS academy. :-)

-- Tim Behrendsen (tim@airshields.com)