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From: mlc@iberia.cca.rockwell.com (Michael Cook)
Subject: Re: Comparison of languages for CS1 and CS2
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Date: Fri, 14 Jul 1995 19:36:06 GMT
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In article <DBptGF.G3r@ss3.magec.com>, smosha@most.magec.com (Steve O'Shaughnessy) writes:
>Newsgroups: comp.edu,comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.modula2,comp.lang.scheme
>From: smosha@most.magec.com (Steve O'Shaughnessy)
>Subject: Re: Comparison of languages for CS1 and CS2
>Organization: MESC
>Date: Fri, 14 Jul 1995 16:50:39 GMT

[... text snipped ...]

>In defense of the universities, if I where an administrater with 
>little knowledge of the real world. And I had to select a 
>language for CS1, I would look in the trade journals to see what 
>industry wanted.  Go ahead, look.  Very few ads for Ada 
>programmers.  Lots of demands for C/C++.  The real question is 
>WHY? 


In a university, teaching what the industry wants is the wrong reason. 
It might be OK in a tech school.  A university must be teaching
foundations and creating new things to be used in industry later on. 
Teaching the current fad is not a good idea.  See L.F. Johnson's
article "C in the First Course Considered Harmful",
in the Technical Opinion section of the May 1995 Communications of the
ACM (v.38, n.5, pp.99-101)

Michael Cook
MLC@IBERIA.CCA.ROCKWELL.COM
These are not the opinions of my employer.

Post in haste, repent in leisure.

