Newsgroups: comp.edu,comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.modula2,comp.lang.scheme
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!udel!delmarva.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!salliemae!uunet!in1.uu.net!mole-end!mat
From: mat@mole-end.matawan.nj.us
Subject: Re: Comparison of languages for CS1 and CS2
Message-ID: <1995Jul17.213942.4321@mole-end.matawan.nj.us>
Organization: :
References: <3srsn5$q8d@galaxy.ucr.edu> <3trm48$n4i@duke.cs.duke.edu> <3u0rn0$4k6@felix.seas.gwu.edu>
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 1995 21:39:42 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.edu:13386 comp.lang.ada:32833 comp.lang.c++:139113 comp.lang.modula2:12122 comp.lang.scheme:13254

In article <3u0rn0$4k6@felix.seas.gwu.edu>, mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman) writes:
 
 ....
> > Especially those that are already fluent in C++ and/or other languages.
> > Anything else is going to create unhappiness, most probably with the
> > already advanced students...
> 
> If they are already fluent (from high school) they should skip the
> first-term, or maybe first-year courses, or expect to be bored silly.
> If the catalog says "no prerequisites", a student has to expect that
> to be meaningful. If the catalog says "only the first term is 
> prerequisite", then the catalog is lying if there are hidden assumptions
> about what the kid knows.
> 
> Kids have to learn that CS is just like any other subject, in that if
> they've studied it before, they will be bored studying it again.

One of my favorite stories:

   My whole freshman year engineering class was gathered in the
lecture hall for the first meeting of Physics 101 (Newtonian Mechanics,
et. al.)

   The professor walked out to the middle of the front of the hall, sat
on a stool behind the table, and looked up at us.

   ``I would like to welcome all of you to your first course in Physics,''
he said.  ``How many of you have had physics in high school?  Those of
you who have had Physics in high school, please raise your hands.''  He
demonstrated.

   About half the class had gone either to Bronx Science, Stuyvesent, or
Brooklyn Tech.  And all but one or two had a hand high in the air.

   The professor smiled wickedly.  ``To those of you with your hands raised,
I would _especially_ like to welcome you to your first course in Physics!''

   He wasn't kidding.  I'd gotten a 98 (out of 100) in the NYState Regents
Physics exam.  Halfway through that engineering course, I was on my way to
a solid D--and so was about half the class.  A quarter was on its way to an
F.  Somehow I managed to pull a C by the end of the year--and I have never
been prouder of any grade than I was of that C.

   At the college level, that first course ought to indroduce things you
_don't_ learn by tinkering around yourself.
-- 
 (This man's opinions are his own.)
 From mole-end				Mark Terribile
 mat@mole-end.matawan.nj.us, Somewhere in Matawan, NJ
	(Training and consulting in C, C++, UNIX, etc.)
