From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,c31dbd48cbe96f X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news2.google.com!postnews.google.com!19g2000hsx.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail From: michael.mcnett@usma.edu Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Java-Ada 2005 Syntax / Language Features Comparisons Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 19:08:00 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Message-ID: <1186798080.329472.268250@19g2000hsx.googlegroups.com> References: <1186604907.961690.311040@b79g2000hse.googlegroups.com> <1186641851.035873.250020@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com> <46baf660$0$21004$9b4e6d93@newsspool1.arcor-online.net> <1186662832.028946.220480@r34g2000hsd.googlegroups.com> <1186785964.755269.324340@r34g2000hsd.googlegroups.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.29.227.4 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Trace: posting.google.com 1186798080 12690 127.0.0.1 (11 Aug 2007 02:08:00 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2007 02:08:00 +0000 (UTC) In-Reply-To: <1186785964.755269.324340@r34g2000hsd.googlegroups.com> User-Agent: G2/1.0 X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; InfoPath.2; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.30; Windows-Media-Player/10.00.00.3990),gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe) Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: 19g2000hsx.googlegroups.com; posting-host=129.29.227.4; posting-account=ps2QrAMAAAA6_jCuRt2JEIpn5Otqf_w0 Xref: g2news2.google.com comp.lang.ada:1397 Date: 2007-08-10T19:08:00-07:00 List-Id: John, During the previous several semesters this CS2 course did the same thing that I am doing now, except the book used in those semesters used C++. From personal experience, it actually worked quite well for both CS and non-CS students. Yes, it is challenging to them when they first start reading the book and try to implement its concepts in a different language. By the middle of the semester, however, they realize that the fundamentals of the languages are quite similar. The Spring semester will be a good indicator to see if moving to the Java-based book for CS2 helps them in their CS3 course. I should clarify what I meant by us not teaching them Java. We don't just "dump a new language on them" without any assistance (although that's what my earlier post made it sound). There is plenty of in-class work between the instructor and the students that helps them understand the fundamentals of Java. I'd be very interested in hearing more about the guidance you provide on "... how "experienced" programmers learn a new language." Our approach described in the earlier post is meant to give them the opportunity to explore Ada more fully in this CS2 course while simultaneously giving them familiarity with a language they will be using in CS3. There is no expectation that they would actually be able to design and implement an application in Java after this CS2 course. > We teach Ada in both CS1 and CS2. We teach algorithmic problem > solving in CS1 and move to an OO approach in CS2. We switch to Java > in CS3 where patterns are the goal. It certainly sounds like our CS1, 2, and 3 courses are quite similar based on this. Mike