Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!mcnc!gatech!rutgers!super.upenn.edu!operations.dccs.upenn.edu!shaffer From: shaffer@operations.dccs.upenn.edu (Earl Shaffer) Newsgroups: soc.college,comp.edu Subject: First Language Taught in CSC degree track Message-ID: <1472@super.upenn.edu.upenn.edu> Date: Wed, 15-Jul-87 15:19:18 EDT Article-I.D.: super.1472 Posted: Wed Jul 15 15:19:18 1987 Date-Received: Fri, 17-Jul-87 07:30:41 EDT Sender: root@super.upenn.edu.upenn.edu Reply-To: shaffer@operations.dccs.upenn.edu.UUCP (Earl Shaffer) Organization: University of Pennsylvania Lines: 33 Keywords: language, CSC 101, intro Summary: Which language to teach first to undergrads Xref: mnetor soc.college:757 comp.edu:491 I have a questions which should stir up a debate. Which language should be taught first in the Computer Science track for incoming freshman? We are assuming that is possible to teach almost any (exceptions: Snobol, C++, Forth, etc.) and that it is phyiscally possible to teach any language (example: CICS COBOL, Burroughs Super Algol). The point of all of this is that back when I was in school, Pascal had just replaced Basic as the languages *generally* taught first in a CSC 101 type class. I hear that 'C' has gained in popularity enough that schools are using C rather than Pascal for intro courses. Remember, this is the course that will teach all the bad habits we learned from our first language(s)! (happy face) For example, I still use "I" for counters because I learned Fortran first. (yech!) Well, what do all of you think? (flames to /dev/null) cheers, ============================================================================== Earl Shaffer - University of Pennsylvania - Data Communications Department "Time was invented so that everything wouldn't happen at once." Steven Wright ==============================================================================