Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk
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From: mmk@netcom.com (Mark Kunichika)
Subject: Re: Smalltalk in CS 1
Message-ID: <mmkCyD4xF.Ktx@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
References: <9410211433.AA13245@sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu> <tms-251094103822@stambaugh.tiac.net> <38jk2v$ia6@crchh497.bnr.ca> <tms-261094133117@stambaugh.tiac.net>
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 1994 03:12:50 GMT
X-Original-Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk
Lines: 37

In article <tms-261094133117@stambaugh.tiac.net>,
Tom Stambaugh <tms@stambaugh.com> wrote:
>In article <38jk2v$ia6@crchh497.bnr.ca>, ethridge@bnr.ca (Allen Ethridge)
>wrote:
[snip]
>> course in programming.  A first course should teach the basics of good
>> software construction, and, in my non-scholarly opinion, Smalltalk is better
>> than most languages for that - although i'd push for Eiffel instead.
>
>Agreed.

I think this all depends on what kind of CS1 (or CS101, in other numbering
schemes) one wants to teach. I've noticed two kinds of curricula:
1. "true" CS, this leads up to a "systems programming" kind of future
  (or, for those with planetary sized brains, CS theory)
2. "MIS" CS, this leads to programmers with a slightly better feel for
  what to build, but less knowledge of how to build it.

I can't remember whether it was Adele Goldberg or Dave Thomas (or someone
else, for that matter) who said at OOPSLA '94 that educational
institutions need to do a better job at teaching "building
applications" rather than just "basic component skills" that require
additional leavening in the workplace. I'd liken this to learning to
work on projects as a team rather than just applying individual
skills to solving CS programming assignments.

On the OO/ST front, what about Self as a learning environment?

-mark



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Mark Kunichika                                            mmk@netcom.com
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