Ken Starks wrote:
Ethan Furman wrote:
Hey all.
<snip>
As I have mentioned before, I am making this Measure class for two
reasons: experience with unit testing, I like playing with numbers, I
am unaware of anything like this having yet been done (okay, three
reasons ;).
<snip>
Any and all feedback welcome, particularly from anyone who might
actually use the Measure class. ;)
~Ethan
[snip]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My principal interest in your work, however, is in the use of
unit tests as a pedagogical method of teaching programming, whether
self-taught or taught by an instructor.
The students would be taught how to __run__ a unit test-suite
at as early an opportunity as possible. I can't see
why an eleven or twelve year old should not be able to cope
with it in hour one or two of a carefully structured course.
What is needed for such an approach is a copy--in a public
place--of your unit tests for all methods
that are really part of the funtionality; together with
blanked-out definitions for them (i.e just the first line,
any in-code documentation, and 'pass' ).
You would not include any 'internal' methods that are merely the way
__you__ happened to achieve the result.
The programming 'exercise' would then be for the students, or
groups of students, to roll their own version until their code
passed all the unit tests.
Definitely an interesting idea. I'm not sure if I should be worried
about the 12-13 year old students tackling a complex class such as a new
number class, or if I should prepare to be embarrased by how much
simpler they are able to make equivalent code! ;)
At any rate, once I'm done the code will be released under a very
friendly license, so you'll be free to do that should you desire to.
~Ethan
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