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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,fef3ad775ef4b0b7 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,domainid0,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news2.google.com!news4.google.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: "(see below)" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Ada for 1st year students Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:20:12 +0100 Message-ID: References: <60e0c5f0-1e17-4add-b21e-b1ef622d5233@v13g2000pro.googlegroups.com> <6gj2s5-0f9.ln1@newserver.thecreems.com> <543356bc-7862-45d2-9004-dfef69deab26@79g2000hsk.googlegroups.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: individual.net Qk0Fa/O4QNHqZOuUlggADgDqT5tHyixXHn5Ys6YvjU1DoAfllo Cancel-Lock: sha1:DWJ9E7/yHHLD7axW4iPSyE21EdE= User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/12.12.0.080729 Thread-Topic: Ada for 1st year students Thread-Index: AckrvTx2RbPT6ZpzD0CvZ9D/IypEqA== Xref: g2news2.google.com comp.lang.ada:8058 Date: 2008-10-11T17:20:12+01:00 List-Id: On 11/10/2008 13:54, in article bc9af86b-de74-4ee8-bbd8-942154036def@34g2000hsh.googlegroups.com, "John McCormick" wrote: > I've been teaching the first year courses since 1978 and have been > using Ada in them since 1990. I've written Ada textbooks for these > courses. I have some strong opinions in these matters. > ... > > For the first course (CS1), I feel strongly that the textbook should > emphasize top down design through procedural abstraction. Beginners > need to learn the fundamental control structures (decision, iteration, > and subprogram) and fundamental data structures (the Ada type > system). I feel that it is important that they see sizable examples > in the form of case studies. > > I am VERY wary of teaching GUI programming to beginners. They put > enormous amounts of time into playing with fonts, colors, etc at the > expense of learning basic programming. Too many students come out of > GUI based CS1 courses with no ability to write decent if and loop > statements. But they sure can draw pretty windows. :-) I prefer to > keep the I/O as basic as possible and concentrate on the fundamentals > of algorithm design and implementation. ... > > Note the emphasis on problem solving in each of these titles. Don't > go by the US Amazon for the prices. I know that my publisher prices > my books lower in Spain, so they probably do the same in Portugal. > Check with your book store. There is also a decent supply of used > copies available. > > I like to schedule what CS educators call "closed labs". These are > like the labs you had in your chemistry and physics courses. In the > lab, students get practice with the concepts discussed in lecture. > They solve small problems with an instructor nearby to assist. > Research at the University of Texas at Austin indicates positive > results with closed labs. I give my students a Pre-Lab exercise to > complete before the lab session, the In-Lab exercise, and then a Post- > Lab exercise (programming assignment) that gives them a more > challenging problem to solve. I would be happy to share these > laboratory materials. Of course, they are closely tied to my textbook > > In terms of tools, you are on the right track with GNAT through the > GAP program. I agree with others that GPS is too much for beginners. > My favorite IDE, AdaGIDE, has been mentioned. It is about as basic as > you can get. ... I headed a team that introduced Ada 95 as the 1st- and 2nd-years' foundation language at Glasgow University CS Department in 1996. That ran very well indeed for 10 years. In fact, it was by far the most successful course I had anything to do with, in nearly 30 years of teaching programming. The course we delivered followed the recommendations above very closely indeed, and I strongly agree with virtually everything John has said. (Ada has now been replaced by Python "because it is more fun". I'm glad I retired before that happened, as I would not be able to disguise my contempt for the guilty parties.) -- Bill Findlay chez blueyonder.co.uk