Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!cbnewsc!nevin1 From: nevin1@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (nevin.j.liber) Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc Subject: Re: Which language to teach first? Message-ID: <2449@cbnewsc.ATT.COM> Date: 16 Aug 89 00:37:03 GMT References: <2584@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> <6226@hubcap.clemson.edu> Reply-To: nevin1@ihlpb.ATT.COM (nevin.j.liber) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 17 In article <6226@hubcap.clemson.edu> billwolf%hazel.cs.clemson.edu@hubcap.clemson.edu writes: > No, actually, students need to be exposed to ADTs early. > Probably the best way to do it is for the professor to > provide the spec, and have the students write an implementation, > while the concepts behind the spec are being covered in class. I don't know. I tend to laugh when I get a non-trivial (and usually incomplete) spec for a trivial program, which is what most of the beginning CS programs tend to have. It makes ADTs *seem* like useless overhead (they may not be, especially on larger projects, but tiny projects aren't the way to convince someone that ADTs are worth their cost). -- _ __ NEVIN ":-)" LIBER nevin1@ihlpb.ATT.COM (312) 979-4751 IH 4F-410 ' ) ) "We are almost into the '90s; *nothing* is wierd." / / _ , __o ____ -- Buzz Kelman, Newsman & Bluesman, WLUP, 7/28/89 / (_