Re: Pascal or C as a first lang

[seas.gwu.edu!mfeldman@uunet.uu.net (Michael Feldman)]

In article <CD5B9z.1x8@cbnewsl.cb.att.com> willett@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (david.c.
willett) writes:
>From article <1993Sep10.005836.27727@seas.gwu.edu>, by mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (
Michael Feldman):
>> Please take discussion of this to comp.edu.
>> 
>> Mike Feldman
>	{Mike's .sig deleted}
>
>Why?  The pedagogical componenent of this debate is probably more appropriate
>there, but I see a larger issue.  That being: Which development paradigm is
>more universially appropriate?  We have the Ada/Pascal paradigm or the C
>paradigm.  I think it would be productive to characterize both paradigms
>and develop the application universe for each.  I believe that discussion
>belongs in this group as we seem to return to it frequently.
>
[deleted]
>
>Perhaps such a discussion cannot occur here.  Nonetheless, the exercise 
>would, in my view, be useful for all; Ada proponents and detractors alike.
>
I recommended that comparisons of teaching languages take place on
comp.edu mostly because the readership there is broader-based than
here on an Ada-specific group, and we are more likely to get interesting
responses from people who don't read c.l.a., including a broader base
of college teachers.

In that forum, we may have an opportunity to debunk some of the outdated
myths about Ada, and also to learn what makes others tick. 

I wasn't implying that a discussion of teaching languages shouldn't
happen, or can't happen, here, but the header was Pascal vs. C as an
intro language, and I perceived no relevance to Ada in it.

As a 10-year teacher of Ada in universities and industry, I am arrogant
enough to be willing to go on at unbearable length on this subject.
I'm not trying to moderate this group out of certain topics; I just
think we could all learn something by reading the more generic group.

Mike Feldman
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Michael B. Feldman -  co-chair, SIGAda Education Committee
Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The George Washington University -  Washington, DC 20052 USA
202-994-5253 (voice) - 202-994-0227 (fax) - mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Internet)
"We just changed our CONFIG.SYS, then pressed CTRL-ALT-DEL. It was easy."
-- Alexandre Giglavyi, director Lyceum of Information Technologies, Moscow.
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