Re: Pascal or C as a first lang

[pacbell.com!att-out!cbnewsl!willett@ames.arc.nasa.gov (david.c.willett)]

>From article <26v3ak$nfh@schonberg.cs.nyu.edu>, by dewar@cs.nyu.edu (Robert De
war):
> 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 wit
hout 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.
>

Not much to add here, except to point out that what Robert calls _the culture
that goes with it_ I'm calling a *development paradigm*.


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Dave Willett          AT&T Federal Systems Advanced Technologies

The biggest mistake you can make is to believe that you work for someone else.
			
			-- Anonymous