From: "Robert I. Eachus" <eachus@mitre.org>
Subject: Re: Computer Programming for Everybody?
Date: 1999/09/14
Date: 1999-09-14T23:23:32+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <37DED9FE.9A882C2C@mitre.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 7rjceh$92t@dfw-ixnews15.ix.netcom.com
Richard D Riehle wrote:
> The important thing is not the choice of language.
I seriously disagree. There are two very valid reasons for teaching
a second language to young children. The first is to insure that they
are (at least) bilingual. The second is to "break the mold" of
believing that the map is the territory. This requires that there are
concepts that are (easily) expressible in the second language and not
the first.
By this standard, APL, Scheme, Ada, and Python are all good choices,
BASIC and LOGO are very bad. (My daughter learned APL and French as a
child, and Ada later. My son learned Ada as a child.)
> Rather, it is
> that these young students learn something about problem solving with
> software abstraction. We all learn to "put away childish things"
> as we grow older and these students will adopt more sophisticated
> tools as they progress through their education. I am not convinced
> that Ada is appropriate at this level of learning. I am absolutely
> certain that languages such as C, C++, and Java are not suitable.
--
Robert I. Eachus
with Standard_Disclaimer;
use Standard_Disclaimer;
function Message (Text: in Clever_Ideas) return Better_Ideas is...
next prev parent reply other threads:[~1999-09-14 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 26+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
1999-09-10 0:00 Computer Programming for Everybody? Ted Dennison
1999-09-10 0:00 ` David Botton
1999-09-10 0:00 ` Raymond Calande
1999-09-11 0:00 ` Vladimir Olensky
1999-09-12 0:00 ` Brian Rogoff
1999-09-12 0:00 ` mitch
1999-09-13 0:00 ` Preben Randhol
1999-09-13 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1999-09-13 0:00 ` Preben Randhol
1999-09-13 0:00 ` Larry Kilgallen
1999-09-13 0:00 ` John Duncan
1999-09-13 0:00 ` Brian Rogoff
1999-09-14 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-09-14 0:00 ` Wes Groleau
1999-09-13 0:00 ` Mike Hall
1999-09-14 0:00 ` tmoran
1999-09-13 0:00 ` Tarjei Jensen
1999-09-13 0:00 ` Richard D Riehle
1999-09-14 0:00 ` Wes Groleau
[not found] ` <Pine.HPP.3.93.990915162218.958A-100000@merle.acns.nwu.edu>
1999-09-22 0:00 ` Wes Groleau
1999-09-14 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus [this message]
[not found] ` <7ronav$shf@dfw-ixnews7.ix.netcom.com>
1999-09-22 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-09-23 0:00 ` Preben Randhol
1999-09-23 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-09-27 0:00 ` Richard D Riehle
1999-09-27 0:00 ` Marin David Condic
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