interesting thread on comp.edu

[seas.gwu.edu!mfeldman@uunet.uu.net (Michael Feldman)]

comp.edu is a sort of catch-all newsgroup with two main threads of discussion:

- the use of the computer in education;
- education about computers, and CS generally

You might enjoy reading the last few days of this group, for a long
thread on the virtues and liabilities of C++ as a first language.
I've sat (mostly) on the sidelines reading this, as it's really all
I can do to keep up with comp.lang.ada.

Ada fans will be happy to know that the prevailing opinion in comp.edu
is that C++ is _not_ a good first language, mainly because of all the
unsafe stuff, for the use of which there is not an obvious alternative
(pointers, etc.). 

A comment was made that a language should provide unsage stuff, but with 
safe alternatives, and done in a way so as to be sure that programmers
know they are using the unsafe stuff. The poster said that C++ is
"evolving" in this direction. I resisted the temptation to say how
delighted I was that C++ is finally evolving, in this area, to where
Ada was 10 years ago.

Very little has been said in that thread about Ada; apparently nobody 
wanted to get the thread off on another track, and neither did I.

Happy reading.

Mike Feldman
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Michael B. Feldman
co-chair, SIGAda Education Committee

Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
School of Engineering and Applied Science
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20052 USA
(202) 994-5253 (voice)
(202) 994-5296 (fax)
mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Internet)

"The most important thing is to be sincere, 
and once you've learned how to fake that, you've got it made." 
-- old show-business adage
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