Dear All, Many thanks to everyone for taking your time to air out your views on the question I had posted on the forum. For now I will use C since the students will need to learn the art of problem solving but most importantly they also need to learn the basics of programming like data types, looping constructs, pointers etc. My hope is that later on they shall be able to transfer this basic programming knowledge in learning other languages like Java and C++.
I must also say that from what I get across this thread of discussion, Scheme and Python seem also to be good alternatives. I will definitely try them in the forthcoming semesters. I have done a bit of programming in Python and PERL on a Unix system but not yet tried Scheme although it seems to be a very good alternative. Once again many thanks for the insights! Bennett 2009/4/6 Walter Milner <[email protected]>: > A question to the OP: is it true that the choice must be between C, C++ > and Java? Or might other languages be considered? > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jay McCarthy [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: 06 April 2009 13:21 > To: Bennett Kankuzi > Cc: Ppig-Discuss-List > Subject: Re: Choice of introductory programming language to a freshman > class > > I've had a lot of success using the How to Design Programs textbook > (http://www.htdp.org/), which uses a series of Scheme-based languages > explicitly designed for beginners. The TeachScheme, ReachJava! > (http://www.teach-scheme.org/) curriculum uses this book in a > two-semester sequence where students learn programming in the first > semester with HtDP and these Scheme-derived languages, then transition > to Java and objects in the second semester. > > I'm happy to provide additional help getting you running in this > curriculum if you'd like. > > Jay McCarthy > > -- > Jay McCarthy <[email protected]> > Assistant Professor / Brigham Young University > http://teammccarthy.org/jay > > "The glory of God is Intelligence" - D&C 93 > -- Blog1: http://bkankuzi.blogspot.com Blog2: http://ilovemalawi.blogspot.com Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bfkankuzi/ Google Talk: bfkankuzi VoipCheap: bkankuzi Skype: bfkankuzi Mobile: +265 4 188 893
