The following is an excerpt from the article:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/06/11/2021220
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Java as a CS Introductory Language?
>From Chris DiBona:
I don't think that Java, or any Object Oriented
language, would be suitable for an AP Computer
science class. I don't think it serves the needs of
students looking to fully understand the internal
workings of a computer, which is in my mind
what an AP computer science course should be
directed towards.
C is a language that has been designed to be very
close to the hardware, and its ideosyncracies and
power reflect that. Through this relationship, C
reflects the realities of the hardware your
programs run on. Memory management, low level
process and I/O control are all things that a
computer scientist should understand at a very
low level, to better aid in future programming and
debugging no matter which language is chosen or
inflicted upon said scientist.
In contrast, Java has been designed to take such
concerns away from the programmer. Memory
management? Low level IO? These are not the
droids you were looking for.. (at least not without
an RMI written in another language) That's okay
too, that isn't what people want from Java and it
isn't what it was designed to do.
And that is exactly my problem with it being
applied in a computer science course designed to
teach CS fundamentals. In short, since I believe
that AP CS courses should focus on the low level
architecture of computing, Java is an
inappropriate language for that course.
When is Java appropriate? In your college
sophomore comparative languages course, or,
alternatively, in an OO course or two, but it
shouldn't be used as the keystone language for
any CS program. Please don't take this as me
saying that Java is neither useful or important in
it's own (non-free) way, as it clearly is. However,
in my opinion, It should be considered an adjunct
subject to a serious program in Computer Science.
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