Graham Samuel wrote:
On Sun, 19 Feb 2006 10:37:36 -0800 (PST), Judy Perry
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Mark,
Right, again, my argument was less "IF-THENs rule and CASE-SWITCHes suck"
than IF-THENs are easier to read/learn/are more transparent for
non/novice-programmers.
Just to add a tiny footnote to this: Judy, how would you tackle a
situation where a user (or a handler) can put in say a number from 1 to
50, and each of those numbers requires the program to carry out a
different action? It wouldn't really be feasible to have a depth of 50
if-then-elses
...
Teaching the whole of the art of programming in a single session or even
a single semester would likely overwhelm the student and the teacher.
If a given construct seems a bit daunting for the first semester or the
first year, there's plenty of time to introduce it later.
Learnability and usability are different goals. If switch/case blocks
seem a bit much for the learner, that takes nothing away from the
graceful utility which has made them a cornerstone of so many languages.
Switch/case blocks may be best learned in the second semester anyway:
if the first semesters goes well, by the end of it the learner may have
already begun to find the limitations of if/then and is hungry for
something else....
--
Richard Gaskin
Managing Editor, revJournal
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