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From: jcm@hgc.edu (James McKim)
Subject: Re: Comparison of languages for CS1 and CS2
Message-ID: <1995Jul13.133602.13101@merlin.hgc.edu>
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Organization: The Hartford Graduate Center
References: <3tsp99$233@hgc.edu> <3u0r7p$3mj@felix.seas.gwu.edu>
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 1995 13:36:02 GMT
Lines: 71
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.edu:13257 comp.lang.ada:32577 comp.lang.c++:138228 comp.lang.modula2:12036 comp.lang.scheme:13162

In article <3u0r7p$3mj@felix.seas.gwu.edu> mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman) writes:
>In article <1995Jul11.202739.11299@merlin.hgc.edu>,
>James McKim <jcm@hgc.edu> wrote:
>
>>And to high school students. Gotta make sure they can pass that advanced
>>placement exam.
>
>Make sure you let ETS know how you feel about this.

I have. I also posted the main points of my letter here (comp.edu) twice.
I'm reluctant to post it a third time but will gladly send a copy to
anyone who's interested.


[...]

>
>>All the above make both intellectual and pedagogical sense. As
>>do Eiffel (my favorite - nearly as simple as Pascal, but fully OO), 
>>Modula-3, Smalltalk, and others.
>
>I agree. Those three are making _slow_ inroads into CS1/CS2, and
>I have no special objection to any of them for that purpose.
>
>[snip]
>
>>>I would feel MUCH more comfortable (well, a little more, anyway)
>>>with this C (or C++) in CS1/CS2 movement, IF I knew that the
>>>proponents could make a solid intellectual case for why it was the
>>>best _foundation_ for the students. As it is, have we really gotten
>>>to planning curricula by public opinion poll?
>
>>Not all of us.
>
>Whew!

:-)

>
>[snip]
>>
>>Hang in there,
>
>I'm tryin', man, I'm tryin'! :-)

You're doing fine. A nice mix of eloquence, sanity and commitment to
your calling.

>
>Mike Feldman

Best,
-- Jim

>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Michael B. Feldman -  chair, SIGAda Education Working Group
>Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
>The George Washington University -  Washington, DC 20052 USA
>202-994-5919 (voice) - 202-994-0227 (fax) - mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Internet)
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>One, two, three ways an underdog: Ada fan, Mac fan, Old Liberal Democrat
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Ada on the WWW: http://lglwww.epfl.ch/Ada/ or http://info.acm.org/sigada/
>------------------------------------------------------------------------


-- 

*------------------------------------------------------------------------------*
Jim McKim  (203)-548-2458     Co-editor of Eiffel Outlook 
Internet:  jcm@hgc.edu        Subscribe early and often!
