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From: shebs@utah-cs.UUCP (Stanley Shebs)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: Teaching object-oriented paradigm t
Message-ID: <4155@utah-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 11-Jan-87 18:16:04 EST
Article-I.D.: utah-cs.4155
Posted: Sun Jan 11 18:16:04 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 13-Jan-87 01:10:07 EST
References: <4000001@nucsrl.UUCP> <82100001@uiucdcsp>
Reply-To: shebs@utah-cs.UUCP (Stanley Shebs)
Organization: PASS Research Group
Lines: 23

In article <82100001@uiucdcsp> johnson@uiucdcsp.cs.uiuc.edu writes:

>Some people think that o-o programming is little more than abstract
>data-types.  In this case, it should certainly be taught to beginning
>programmers, and in many cases, it is.  On the other hand, I think that
>one of the most important ideas in o-o programming is the use of standard
>interfaces (protocols) for objects such that many classes support the
>same interface and programs can operate on objects in any of those classes.

Hmmm, when I think "abstract data types" I just naturally assume that they
allow polymorphism.  Are there actually people that don't believe polymorphism
is a Good Thing? :-)

>Some schools teach a non-standard language for the first programming course,
>but I think that the political realities force most schools to teach a
>language that students might possibly use when they graduate.

Utah teaches at least three elementary courses, emphasizing Fortran, C,
and Pascal/Scheme, respectively.  The last-named is what CS pre-majors
start out in, and there is a healthy dose of concepts in the course.
On the other hand, the Pascal and Scheme mix is a bit schizophrenic...

							stan shebs