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: fac41,1bc17347df0c2d32 X-Google-Attributes: gidfac41,public X-Google-Thread: 1008e3,1bc17347df0c2d32 X-Google-Attributes: gid1008e3,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,1bc17347df0c2d32 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: rrw1000@cus.cam.ac.uk (Richard Watts) Subject: Re: Why one school changed from Pascal to C++ Date: 1997/05/02 Message-ID: <5kd7eo$2b4@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 238954143 References: <33664F10.6B76@mathernet.com> Organization: University of Cambridge, England Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.eiffel,comp.lang.modula3 Date: 1997-05-02T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article , Philippe Allenbach wrote: > >Not to begin a language war and personnaly, I don't use C++ but still worth >reading,I thought it would be interesting to spread this post to other >newsgroups. > >>I found this through a publisher's home page. It's a paper detailing >>(It's several screens long, I haven't read it all the way through yet) >>why the CS program at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (in the >>U.K.) switched from Pascal to C++ in their introductory CS class. > >>I thought some of you might find it interesting. Personally, I've >>always liked Pascal, and I'm glad I was taught it, but I'm really >>curious about their reasons. Here's the URL: > >>http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/publications/books/apprentice/InstructorsManual/C++_Choi >>ce.html It's interesting that they seem to rate things like initialisation and overloading as plusses for ADT implementation: experience seems to indicate that full transparency is often a bad idea (do you _really_ want to give the impression that matrix multiplication is commutative ?). It's also interesting that they didn't consider teaching all of Modula-3 - it's quite a small language. Their problems seem pretty run-of-the-mill for C++-based courses, and they seem to have reinvented pretty much all of the important wheels as class libraries. Richard. -- SAY AGAIN STOP IS USENET DEAD OR DECEASED STOP The University of Cambridge can't have these opinions even if it wants them.