Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!gatech!hubcap!billwolf%hazel.cs.clemson.edu
From: billwolf%hazel.cs.clemson.edu@hubcap.clemson.edu (William Thomas Wolfe,2847,)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: Which language to teach first?
Message-ID: <6259@hubcap.clemson.edu>
Date: 14 Aug 89 20:05:53 GMT
References: <5666@ficc.uu.net>
Sender: news@hubcap.clemson.edu
Reply-To: billwolf%hazel.cs.clemson.edu@hubcap.clemson.edu
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From article <5666@ficc.uu.net>, by peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva):
>>     but we are training professionals here, not unsophisticated users.
> 
> I beg to disagree. Your students are unsophisticated users. They have a long
> way to go to being professionals. Oh yes, that's the goal of the course of
> study they're engaged in, and they'll get there soon enough, but you can't
> assume that's where they're at now.

    The shortest distance between two points is a straight line;
    the more time they spend in a professional frame of mind, the 
    greater their professional capabilities will be when it comes 
    time to put their extremely costly education to practical use.
 
> And bear in mind that they're not all going to be professional computer
> scientists or software engineers. Some of them, maybe the majority, will be
> professional physicists, or materials engineers, or statisticians, or even
> historians or accountants.

    In that case, let them take the introductory course for non-majors.

    If they sign up for the CS major track, they should receive a clear
    picture of what the Real World is all about, not some glossed-over
    pretend world where nobody has to worry about implementing anything.

    Only with a clear understanding of what being a professional computer
    scientist / software engineer is all about will they be in a position
    to ultimately decide to be an accountant instead...   :-)  :-)  :-)


    Bill Wolfe, wtwolfe@hubcap.clemson.edu