On 12/14/2010 04:41 PM, Russel Winder wrote:
Programmers would be better trained if the first language they're taught
is a traditional that compiles into native code, such as C. You know
You are joking, aren't you? Students should know C or C++ before they
graduate, but it is not a good first language in general. It is
important to focus first on algorithm and realization of algorithm using
a programming language.
I find that that approach is a disaster for a computing *engineering*
course (I'm not talking about computer *science*). Is too theoretical
and it was unfortunately the approach that universities in my country
followed when I graduated. The problem was that the engineering
graduation was politically dominated in the first two years by
mathematicians which delivered a inflated bunch of stuff about
mathematical analysis and algorithms, and the consequence was that at
the third year most students didn't have any practical knowledge of what
a computer was (unless they had already one, like me, or they came from
a technically oriented school). They had exams about digital signal
manipulation, but nobody explained C to them. A total mess.
It's true that today almost everybody knows what a computer is before
entering the university, but I still think that practice-oriented
approaches are better for engineers.
Also consider that many students either can't make through the end of
the university (this figure changes a lot from country to country) or
can pause their studies for earning money and then resume. Thus if they
first learn C, Java or C# they have more chances to take advantage of
it, rather than other languages. That's why I think that university must
teach even languages which are radically different than C or Java, but
*after* C, Java or C#.
Indeed it's a complex topic, because it also depends on what you
possibly learn about computers in the secondary schools, which again I
suspect is something very different from country to country.
--
Fabrizio Giudici - Java Architect, Project Manager
Tidalwave s.a.s. - "We make Java work. Everywhere."
java.net/blog/fabriziogiudici - www.tidalwave.it/people
fabrizio.giud...@tidalwave.it
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