Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!mentor.cc.purdue.edu!l.cc.purdue.edu!cik
From: cik@l.cc.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: Which language to teach first?
Summary: Definitely, teach the concepts first.
Message-ID: <1504@l.cc.purdue.edu>
Date: 16 Aug 89 16:17:13 GMT
References: <2552@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> <6204@hubcap.clemson.edu> <5594@ficc.uu.net> <30666@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Organization: Purdue University Statistics Department
Lines: 30

In article <30666@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>, jamin@cogsci.berkeley.edu (Sugih Jamin) writes:
> My first language was Scheme.  My second language C.  But that is of no
> importance.  As my prof. likes to say, "Teach them the concepts, they'll
> pick up any language within a week."

			...............................

One of the great difficulties with the languages is that they give a very
distorted view of what a computer does.  A computer does nothing but bit
manipulations and transfers of control.  Some of these bit manipulations
are organized in certain ways for convenience and efficiency.  Some bit
manipulations are done in hardware by some computers and not by others,
but any computer can simulate any other on a clearly defined task.

The fundamental operations are not limited to those in C, and the operations
in a language are not all fundamental, for a specific computer.  Students
should learn that which operations are hardware, and how fast they are, 
affect the algorithm to be used.

> In general, keep the frustration to the minimum.
> 
Even more so, keep the unlearning to a minimum.

> sugih


-- 
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907
Phone: (317)494-6054
hrubin@l.cc.purdue.edu (Internet, bitnet, UUCP)