Ach.. this is painful to even read. Loops and conditionals do *not* have to be language primitives, they can be implemented and explained in terms of first class functions and polymorphic classes. Which, to the extent needed most of the time, are also simpler concepts. This is true, despite them being longer words, and not very common.
Java has no virtues as a teaching language, except that it is better in all ways than C++. And no, I don't think learning should advance from bad languages to worse ones. Tzahi, you might make better use of your time by following some of the references given. Ok, enough fighting [OT] wind mills for one day, signing out of this thread. Daniel Tzahi Fadida <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I think Pascal would be the correct choice here. > From pascal, you can then easily move on to more difficult languages like Java and > maybe if you have > more time, C++. > I find that leaving OO to the end would be best since OO is only one concept, and > the basics will > always be primitives, loops, if thens, etc... > > hope it helps. > > * - * - * > Tzahi Fadida > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Technion Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * > > WARNING TO SPAMMERS: see at http://members.lycos.co.uk/my2nis/spamwarning.html > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Ehud Karni > > Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 2:29 PM > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: What programming language to teach in schools ? > > > > > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > > Hash: SHA1 > > > > Hello All, > > > > I want to add my 2c worth thoughts on this subject > > > > First let me state that I know some programming languages (practically, > > I've written applications in all of them) - Fortran, Algol, Cobol, > > C, Lisp (emacs, not CL) and about 10 various assemblers (again, with > > practical experience). I don't refer to scripting languages (shell, > > perl and even awk) as programming languages (although they share the > > basic principles and I use them a lot) > > > > I think the best language to teach young persons is Fortran. After a > > VERY SHORT explanation of its principles and an example, a useful > > program can be written. It takes much more time to achieve the same > > level of usefulness with C > > > > I have two anecdotes to illustrate this point. I learned Fortran after > > a lecture of 1 hour by the late Gidon Zwas (BTW, a great teacher) 34 > > years ago. I could write many programs that did real things (I used > > it for the Physics lab reports) even before I read the CDC Fortran RM > > > > Few years ago my daughter and her boyfriend had to take a course in > > computer programming (in the Technion) for their Chemistry degree > > They were offered either Fortran or C. My daughter took Fortran (I > > must have influenced her a little), her boyfriend took C. I saw the > > their homework. By my judgment the Fortran exercises were concerned > > more with the algorithms involved, while the C ones were dealing > > more with the technical staff (like the difference between chr[0] > > and *chr) > > > > My big point is: A first programming language should concentrate on > > 3 principals only: > > 1. Variables and assignment, i.e. a variable name is only a place > > holder, and I = I + 2 change the value it the `I' place > > 2. Translation of algorithms to statements (i.e. conditionals and > > looping) > > 3. Use of (multi dimensioned) arrays > > > > All the rest (data structure, subroutines, structured programming, > > data abstraction, etc.) are important but must come after the > > comprehension of the above principles > > > > Ehud > > > > > > - -- > > Ehud Karni Tel: +972-3-7966-561 /"\ > > Mivtach - Simon Fax: +972-3-7966-667 \ / ASCII Ribbon Campaign > > Insurance agencies (USA) voice mail and X Against HTML Mail > > http://www.mvs.co.il FAX: 1-815-5509341 / \ > > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Better Safe Than Sorry > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > > Comment: use http://www.keyserver.net/ to get my key (and others) > > > > iD8DBQE+5yCGLFvTvpjqOY0RAtICAJ4r8cFaw5Sb3UFq8JusUZ0JfL1b6QCcCQjK > > eNG8ECOdeJ3OGjd8/s1ySiI= > > =vw5h > > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > > > ================================================================= > > To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > > the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command > > echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > > > ================================================================= > To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command > echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
