In article <[email protected]>, Chris Angelico <[email protected]> wrote: >On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 8:43 AM, John Ladasky ><[email protected]> wrote: >> I think that they're disappointed when I show them how much they have to >understand just to write a program that plays Tic Tac Toe. > > >The disillusionment of every novice programmer, I think. It starts out >as "I want to learn programming and make a game". Real programming is >more like "I can automate mundane tasks", which doesn't sound half as >exciting. But this is why I'm dubious of programming courses that >actually try to hold onto the "let's make a game" concept, because the >students are likely to get a bit of a let-down on realizing that it >really doesn't work that easily ("this is a two-week course, at the >end of it I should have written the next <insert name of popular game> >for all my friends").
Now comes the Forth experience. I did the following experiment with a psychology student, who had never been exposed to computers and had no prior experience. He aquired a Jupiter Ace, which has Forth as a built in language. So his only exposure was to Forth. Now I started to teach him programming, using the cartoon book "starting Forth". Once in a weeek we sat together and worked through some exercises. After 6 weeks he surprised me. He had programmed the game pong which is a simple table tennis like game, where you have to keep a ball in play. He never gave me a a chance to prevent him having a traumatic experience of failure by telling him that was not a task a novice should start. Or for that matter that such any real time programming requires considerable up front planning and design. [This was an adult, and at the time university students in the Netherlands were certified intelligent and skilled and disciplined in learning.] The lesson that is in there for you is to not hold your students back. They may surprise you! Groetjes Albert > >ChrisA -- Albert van der Horst, UTRECHT,THE NETHERLANDS Economic growth -- being exponential -- ultimately falters. albert@spe&ar&c.xs4all.nl &=n http://home.hccnet.nl/a.w.m.van.der.horst -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
