On Thu, 26 Dec 2002, Andrew Sweger wrote: > I have gone back and asked various professors and the CSEE chairman at > U/Washington about using Perl as a teaching language. One of the > "problems" with Perl is it doesn't generally provide the constraints > needed in teaching CS concepts. This partly explains why they have > progressed from C to C++ to Java.
Right. This is why IMO Perl isn't really an appropriate introductory language -- it's a little too flexible & friendly. On the other hand, when trying to introduce students to the formal logic & math needed to start programming, having to grapple with compilers & memory management issues at the same time has always seemed sadistic to me. I've thought for a while now that for freshman level CS courses, a scripting language like <blasphemy?> Python </blasphemy> would be great while followup classes can introduce Perl for logical flexibility and C/C++/Java for exposure to more of the old mechanical rigor. Side benefits of this would be exposure to some different styles (different OO versions, different scripting languages, etc) and from that maybe a feel for when one language would or wouldn't be appropriate for a given task. But then, I'm not aware of an curriculum that works this way... -- Chris Devers [EMAIL PROTECTED] This fortune soaks up 47 times its own weight in excess memory.
