Chris Angelico wrote:
On Mon, Dec 18, 2017 at 11:31 AM, Bill <bill_nos...@noway.net> wrote:
Larry Martell wrote:
So, your experience is that the style of learning you offer is
unsuitable to anyone who doesn't have some background in algebra.
That's fine. For your course, you set the prereqs. But that's not the
only way for someone to get into coding. You do NOT have to go to
college before you start creating software. That is also not an
opinion; it's a fact backed by a number of proven instances (myself
included).
You might benefit by a course in logic. I never said that was the only way
to learn. I learned (BASIC) in 8th grade too.
You said earlier:
In my years of teaching experience, students who came to college without
the equivalent of "college algebra" were under-prepared for what was
expected of them. This is not just an opinion, it's a fact.
If you want to qualify that by saying that coming to college is not
the only way to learn programming, you'd better say so, because
otherwise, the tone of what you're saying says that students NEED
algebra prior to learning a programming language.
I tried pretty hard not to say that. I said they needed some
"mathematical sophistication"--not actual mathematics. My error was
using that expression among an audience not so familiar with that
terminology. That said, I think I would have a hard time explaining
polymorphism and vtables to a student who had not grasped the
distributive property of multiplication over addition.
You can try, and let me know how it goes for you... I've been there.
Bill
Logic isn't the problem here. Clarity of language is. Watch your
implications if you don't want to be misunderstood.
ChrisA
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