Re: [seul-edu] [Fwd: thoughts on teaching programming]

[Rasjid Wilcox <rasjidw@bigpond.com>]

On Mon, 7 Jan 2002 16:47, Pa McClamrock wrote:
> For students who have already decided they will learn how to program
> computers if only they can understand how to do it, an adequate response
> might be "You can understand how to program in C/C++; here's how."  For
> students who haven't decided whether they want to program computers or not,
> this response isn't adequate. Students who aren't "retards" and don't need
> "dumbed-down" material will tend to ask questions such as (1) Is this
> interesting or boring?  (2) Why should I learn this rather than something
> else?  (3) Is this worth the time and effort it would take to learn it?
> Before I learned to program in Tcl/Tk, I looked into C/C++ and formed the
> following conclusions:  (1) Boring.  (2) No good reason that I can think
> of. (3) NO!  In the event that I ever modify these conclusions and decide
> to learn C/C++, I'm sure I'll be better prepared now that I've learned some
> things about programming in a language that gives a quicker and more
> satisfactory initial return on the student's investment of time and effort.
> I doubt that I'm unique in these respects.
>

I would second this.  I made my way though much of the Java Tutorial, but 
when I got to GUI creation it all just go too much and I stopped.

Somewhat later I discovered Python and wxPython/wxWindows.  I was creating 
useful GUI programs in under a day.

I'm aware that for larger projects I will probably need to go back to Java 
(or even C++) but having been able to get my head around the basics in a much 
'gentler' environment, I will be able to do that with confidence.

Anyway, just my 2c.

Rasjid.