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: fc89c,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gidfc89c,public X-Google-Thread: 109fba,baaf5f793d03d420 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 1014db,6154de2e240de72a X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public X-Google-Thread: 10db24,4cf070091283b555 X-Google-Attributes: gid10db24,public From: dick@silicon.csci.csusb.edu (Dr. Richard Botting) Subject: Re: What's the best language to learn? [was Re: Should I learn C or Pascal?] Date: 1996/08/16 Message-ID: <4v26j4$hkg@news.csus.edu>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 174925878 references: <4u7hi6$s2b@nntp.seflin.lib.fl.us> <4uo74j$95p@ns.broadvision.com> <01bb8950$2c8dcc60$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com> <4urmvu$dfp@solutions.solon.com> <01bb89f1$31be4f60$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com> followup-to: comp.edu,comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.unix.programmer organization: CS Dept., Calif. State Univ., San Bernardino newsgroups: comp.edu,comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.unix.programmer Date: 1996-08-16T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Tim Behrendsen (tim@airshields.com) wrote: : So what? You can always learn languages, but you only have : one shot at teaching someone to think like a programmer. : *Programming is not languages*. Yes!!! (most of the time!) : Programming is breaking problems : down into fundamental steps to achieve a desired result. The : way the steps are described is not relevent to the general question : of a solution. This, as stated, is a very labor intensive way of programming. Ultimatly we may end up with a a structure that is full of fundamental steps. However you can produce code faster and more reliably by looking for cliches that you already know how to code... like SORT STUDENTS ASCENDING GRADE. : When we are talking about teaching a student, : the less extraneous issues such as languages and the more : experience we can given them of the fundamental procedural : nature of the computer, the better. But we should also be helping them to develop a portfolio of standard solutions to standard problems. Problem is they'll need to have them in a language of somekind or other. I would suggest it is better for stiudents to see the same algorithm in several languages than to only ever have them in one language. And one of these should be a simple low level language, and perhaps one should be a the most abstract and powerful languages arround (like the one I used above:-) [...] : > If they'd started him off with explaining, in his native language, how to : sort : > things, and given him sample sets of cards to sort, while following each : of a : > set of descriptions *in his native language*, he would have understood : > quicksort. I first saw this done by a colleague with UK Freshman in their first programming class in 1974. It worked very well. I stole the idea and still use it. Works with searching algorithms as well. I still looking for a similar thing for linked data. -- dick botting http://www.csci.csusb.edu/dick/signature.html Disclaimer: CSUSB may or may not agree with this message. Copyright(1996): Copy freely but say where it came from. I have nothing to sell, and I'm giving it away.