Re: Pascal or C as a first lang

[slinky.cs.nyu.edu!slinky.cs.nyu.edu!nobody@nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)]

Edward Hartnett's comments regarding teaching C -- his point is basicaly
that since C is widespread, that must be the appropriate first language
is a nice example of the most disastrous kind of thinking when it comes
to figuring out what to teach at this or any other level.

Despite our frequent language wars on this newsgroup, we should never forget
that language is very much a secondary issue. I would far rather see C
written by someone competent than Ada written by someone incompetent. Now
what is the competency about here? Certainly not about any particular
language.

So how do we teach this competency? This is a fundamental question, and we
spend a lot of time arguing about the right answer, but we know for sure
that the wrong answer is to focus on a particular language and concentrate
on teaching coding skills in that particular language.

Language is nothing more than a vehicle for teaching at this level. The only
conceivable argument for Ada or C or any other language is that it helps in
the fundamental goal of learning what programming, software engineering if
you like [I see little value in considering these terms as significantly
distinct], is all about.

In practice, the worst thing about C is the trial-and-error hacking culture
that comes with it. It is hard (but not impossible) to teabeginning level witho
ut getting sucked into the
trap of this culture..

The best thing about Ada is the culture that comes with it, which tends to
be at the opposite extreme from this trial-and-error approach.

Now language does not dictate the associated culture, but it is also false
to assume that it has nothing to do with it. In practice the structure
and design of the Ada language are better oriented to teaching abstraction.

For example,  it's hard but not impossible, to teach about data abstraction
and data hiding in C. Ada on the other hand
makes such teaching much more natural.