Steven Sacks wrote: > Procedural programming is a necessary and important first step in > learning how to code
I've been following this debate, and I pretty much agree with Steven. I remember when I took my first programming course, and the professor told us we'd need a 5 1/4" floppy disk. I asked "what's that?" He told me, and I went down to the local office supply store and put down my $5 for my very first floppy. The point is that we're way up here, and the students may not even understand what a variable is. They need the basic concepts of a function/procedure/subroutine/method, variables, and more advanced concepts like control (if) and iteration (for, while). Backtracking a bit, do you remember when you took your first algebra class, and were first introduced to the concept of a variable? To me, that's the dividing line between arithmetic and mathematics. Just the idea of a variable is a tough concept to grasp at first. I don't think you need to call it procedural. Just call it the basic building blocks that they will need for OOP (or procedural, for that matter). There's not that much difference, really, between OOP and procedural. OOP just encapsulates chunks of procedural code and its data. ActionScript's built-in classes are much like the libraries I used in Turbo Pascal in the 80s. Modern programming requires that you understand OOP, and I would move the students very quickly to an OOP paradigm. But, like Steven says, they need the basics, which are really neither procedural nor OOP. They're just the basics. Cordially, Kerry Thompson _______________________________________________ Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com To change your subscription options or search the archive: http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders Brought to you by Fig Leaf Software Premier Authorized Adobe Consulting and Training http://www.figleaf.com http://training.figleaf.com
