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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: fac41,d24e07f660698f1 X-Google-Attributes: gidfac41,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,d24e07f660698f1 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: f43e6,d24e07f660698f1 X-Google-Attributes: gidf43e6,public X-Google-Thread: 109fba,d24e07f660698f1 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public From: uzs90z@uni-bonn.de (Michael Schuerig) Subject: Re: Eiffel anyone? - Who uses it? Date: 1997/07/11 Message-ID: <19970711161006167628@rhrz-isdn3-p6.rhrz.uni-bonn.de>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 256196894 References: <33C61545.167EB0E7@tower.com> Organization: RHRZ - University of Bonn (Germany) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng,comp.lang.eiffel,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.ada Date: 1997-07-11T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: ivory@tower.com wrote: > My friend's son is looking at colleges, and was startled to see > that RIT appears to have a heavy focus on the language Eiffel for > the first 2-3 years. He's using this as a black mark against the > school. The thinking is that he'd rather be learning a 'real' > language that has real-life value on the job market. When I was an undergraduate in computer science I had to learn Scheme (a Lisp dialect) and enjoyed it very much. In later years they tought ML, a pure functional language. Software Engineering courses were held in Modula-2 and Eiffel. Actually I've forgotten almost everything about Scheme and Eiffel that I ever learned. I don't mind. Should I ever again need one of these language I'll put a suitable book next to my keyboard and go ahead. What I learned was something much more profound than a specific language: concepts. I got an idea of how to approach programming problems -- the rest is practice. Right now I'm much more familiar with C++ and somewhat familiar with Java and Perl. But nevertheless, I think it was a good thing to start out with Scheme (or any other "unusual" language). It's a rare student today who goes to college/university to study computer science without any programming experience. But that experience might get into your way! Here I am and I already know how to program -- what the heck are they going to teach me? That's a serious misconception. Computer science education is not about getting things done. It's about learning _how_ to get things done. Another intersting aspect of "unusual" programming languages is that they level the playing field. It's new to each of the students, there's not one know-all. Teamwork gets easier if you're just as "stupid" as your neighbor. Michael -- Michael Schuerig I am the sum total of the mailto:uzs90z@uni-bonn.de parts I control directly. http://www.uni-bonn.de/~uzs90z/ -Daniel C. Dennett