Randal has been right, more often than wrong, time after time since about 1994, according to my Schwartz-tracking records. But this time, I have to side with Todd. LEARNING how to do something is a different operation entirely from KNOWING how to do something. Even allowing for different "styles of learning", the best approach is helical rather than straight-line: (a) Learn a new small piece, (b)integrate it with what you already know, (c)use it, (d) go to (a). While it's good to have an ultimate perfect goal, it is essential to have a productive path to get to the goal.
---- Jerry Muelver On 8/23/08, Todd Blanchard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Aug 23, 2008, at 4:44 AM, Randal L. Schwartz wrote: > >> I'm of the belief that you don't show people bad style, no matter >> what their >> level, and especially newbies, because they tend to fall back on >> what they >> learn first. > > My experience teaching for ten years at university is help beginners > get something working fast (early success), then help them refine it > as needed. That's more like real development anyhow. For instance, > you represented each hand as a Set. It won't be long before that > turns out to be inadequate and they want a BridgePlayer to keep track > not only of unplayed cards, but tricks they've won, their bid, etc... > > Also I hinted at the value of collection when using the hands > temporary to do the deal. That was also intentional. > > People improve over time and there is value in teaching them how to > recognize when things need improvement (or refactoring as the > buzzworders like to say). It would not be long before the individual > would recognize that he was doing too much boilerplate and start > looking to reduce the work. > > So there's my philosophy for teaching programming. Stuff I post on > newbies is often intentionally naive/simple/concept limited. > > -Todd Blanchard > _______________________________________________ > Beginners mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/beginners > > > _______________________________________________ Beginners mailing list [email protected] http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/beginners
