From: sperber@informatik.uni-tuebingen.de (Michael Sperber [Mr. Preprocessor])
Subject: Re: No top schools use Ada
Date: 1995/04/19
Date: 1995-04-19T00:00:00+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <SPERBER.95Apr19103641@marvin.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de> (raw)
In-Reply-To: D759Az.GHM@cs.fredonia.edu
>>>>> "Robert" == Robert P Goldman <goldman@src.honeywell.com> writes:
Robert> [ ... ]
Robert> But I'm curious --- and let me just offer the futile wish that I can
Robert> do this without starting a religious war --- given the situation in
Robert> the languages world now, are there reasons aside from textbook,
Robert> etc. (that are peripheral to the language itself) for using Scheme
Robert> over ML as an intro programming language?
I regularly hack in both Scheme and SML. SML has - as both a teaching
and, in some instances, as a programming language - some serious
shortcomings, IMHO:
- parametric polymorphism is great, but heavy on newbies
- type inference often separates the location of the cause of a typing
bug, and the location of an error message which makes often it hard
for newbies (and for me ...) to see what caused an error
- SML semantics has some quirks which are almost impossible to grok if
you don't have a formal background already (such as the
much-discussed problem with val ... and ...)
Having said that, Scheme is a much more lightweight language which
does not sick as much baggage about syntax, a typing system, currying
etc. on the student. Admittedly, it's got serious shortcomings as a
development language. However, everyone who knows Scheme, has, in my
experience, very little trouble dealing with SML.
--
Cheers =8-} Chipsy
next prev parent reply other threads:[~1995-04-19 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 37+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
[not found] <3mq0jd$r10@kaiwan009.kaiwan.com>
[not found] ` <3n10sv$i97@gopher.cs.uofs.edu>
1995-04-19 0:00 ` No top schools use Ada Fernando Mato Mira
1995-04-19 0:00 ` Kenneth Almquist
1995-04-18 0:00 ` cjames
1995-04-19 0:00 ` Kenneth Almquist
[not found] ` <NEWTNews.27781.798049024.ir001168@cec-services-01>
[not found] ` <3mrg2c$onn@disunms.epfl.ch>
[not found] ` <tomkwongD76x5L.AED@netcom.com>
1995-04-19 0:00 ` Which first-course languages? (was: What schools use Eiffel (was: No top schools use Ada)) ? Theodore Dennison
1995-04-19 0:00 ` Theodore Dennison
1995-04-19 0:00 ` Scott Wheeler
1995-04-20 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1995-04-21 0:00 ` Jeremiah S Patterson
1995-04-21 0:00 ` Scott Wheeler
1995-04-19 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1995-04-20 0:00 ` Robert Johnson
1995-04-20 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1995-04-20 0:00 ` Which first-course languages? (was: What schools use Eiffel (was Geert Bosch
1995-04-21 0:00 ` Which first-course languages? (was: What schools use Eiffel (was: No top schools use Ada)) ? Des Kenny
1995-04-21 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1995-04-20 0:00 ` What schools use Eiffel ? Igor Chudov
1995-04-20 0:00 ` Which first-course languages? (was: What schools use Eiffel (was: No top schools use Ada)) ? Spencer Allain
1995-04-20 0:00 ` Scott Wheeler
1995-04-21 0:00 ` Neil Wilson
1995-04-21 0:00 ` What schools use Eiffel ? Madison Cloutier
[not found] ` <D759Az.GHM@cs.fredonia.edu>
[not found] ` <NEWTNews.19974.798127420.cjames@cec-services-01>
1995-04-18 0:00 ` No top schools use Ada Jay M Martin
1995-04-20 0:00 ` Vladimir Vukicevic
1995-04-20 0:00 ` Norman H. Cohen
1995-04-20 0:00 ` cjames
1995-04-19 0:00 ` Michael Sperber [Mr. Preprocessor] [this message]
1995-04-19 0:00 ` Ian S Nelson
1995-04-19 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1995-04-20 0:00 ` Brian Hanson
1995-04-20 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1995-04-20 0:00 ` First Language Debate etc Deepak Kumar
1995-04-20 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1995-04-21 0:00 ` Deepak Kumar
1995-04-19 0:00 ` No top schools use Ada Robert Dewar
1995-04-22 0:00 ` Chris Morgan
[not found] <9504200153.AA25668@GNAT.CS.NYU.EDU>
1995-04-21 0:00 ` Ian S Nelson
1995-04-21 0:00 ` Jay M Martin
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