"Alberto Monteiro" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Klaus Stock suggested: > > > > OTOH, on more modern computers, one might teach the child OOA and > > OOP with some Smalltalk system. > > > From... > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smalltalk > > Because of that the meaning of Smalltalk expressions using > binary messages can be different from their "traditional" > interpretation: > > 3 + 4 * 5 > > is evaluated as "(3 + 4) * 5", producing 35. > > No, I don't think Smalltalk is a good teaching device :-P
Yup, that's why I wrote that "algebra" works "object-oriented" 8as opposed to "math-oriented"). ;-) OTOH, consider the following Smalltalk code: x := 1 / 3. x := 3 * x. x inspect. Common sense tells us that the result is 0.9999999 - but Smalltalk insists on 1. Yes, "mathematical reality" is nowadays defined as "what the pocket calculator says". This is one more of the points where electronic assistence becomes a problem - kids don't really learn math with the assitance of computers, they are just drilled like a assembly line worker or a circus animal, just repeating the standard "number entry trick" they learned. Anyway, I meant Smalltalk not for teaching mathmetics, for for the teaching of object-oriented analysis and object-oriented programming (and, to some extent, also for OOD). Instead of drawing balls on a screen, kids could learn how to define a Ball class, how to add behavior and how to communicate with Ball instances (myball := Ball new. myball color: red. myball moveto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] myball bounce.). If someone could learn how to define reasonable and meaningful abstraction of given problems, we would have to endure a lot less of that crap which is programmed about everywhere. For example, Java, a language designed by someone who had not the slightest clue about object-orientation. Oh yes, there are things called classes and methods, but they are, in reality, mostly just modules and procedures. With the result that software development in Java takes as much time as it would in C++. Best regards, Klaus _________________________________________________________ This mail sent using V-webmail - http://www.v-webmail.orgg _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
