Teaching programming languages: a novel approach
cs.brown.edu
Teaching programming languages: a novel approach
1–10 of 22 posts
Re: Teaching programming languages: a novel approach
#2I've read the paper, but I still find the grand metaphors like "Post-Linnaean" a bit of a reach. If you want to say that we've reached a point where few languages are pure in their approach (functional, object-oriented, etc), fine. If you want to say modern languages don't pay much a penalty for garbage collection, also fine. I just don't see the evidence that the approach hinted at has relevance to any context outside of Shriram Krishnamurthi's classroom at Brown University. It seems that most of his points that have practical application will be really old news to the programmer part of the HN readership, and have no practical value for those who aren't.
Re: Teaching programming languages: a novel approach
#3Krishnamurthi has also done some really great work teaching introductory programming. He and his coauthors wrote a book meant to occupy a similar space as SICP, available here: http://www.htdp.org. The reasons why they felt an additional text in place of SICP was necessary can be found here: http://www.ccs.neu.edu/scheme/pubs/jfp2004-fffk.pdf.
Krishnamurthi and his colleagues also maintain Racket (http://racket-lang.org/), a first-class development environment, and excellent documentation. All and all just a really great example of academics who simultaneously care deeply about teaching, publish top-tier research, and release real-world tools.
Re: Teaching programming languages: a novel approach
#4I've read the paper, but I still find the grand metaphors like "Post-Linnaean" a bit of a reach. If you want to say that we've reached a point where few languages are pure in their approach (functional, object-oriented, etc), fine. If you want to say modern languages don't pay much a penalty for garbage collection, also fine. I just don't see the evidence that the approach hinted at has relevance to any context outsi…
What gave you the impression that the paper was supposed to have relevance outside of a classroom? The paper has practical applications to teaching, which should be self evident given the content and venue of the paper. If you don't care then don't upvote the story. But don't try to pass off your point as a valid criticism of the paper.
Re: Teaching programming languages: a novel approach
#5Krishnamurthi's class was one of the best classes I've ever taken. The book didn't exist when I took it, but the the lecture notes from our class would eventually become the basis for the book, so I assume the book's excellent as well.
Re: Teaching programming languages: a novel approach
#6We used this at UT Austin, and it's a great book. It doesn't have a lot of stuff that you would find in a graduate PL course (e.g. type theory), so it doesn't prepare you to read PL papers, but building a lisp in scheme is a lot more fun than learning type theory!
And probably more useful, as the author asserts in his paper.
Re: Teaching programming languages: a novel approach
#7In case anyone's scared away by the format, it's an accessible, three-page, quick read. And it's really interesting. The author's approach of blending language survey with language construction is a strategy I've recently employed, and I've grown more as a programmer, more rapidly, because of it.
Re: Teaching programming languages: a novel approach
#8I've read the paper, but I still find the grand metaphors like "Post-Linnaean" a bit of a reach. If you want to say that we've reached a point where few languages are pure in their approach (functional, object-oriented, etc), fine. If you want to say modern languages don't pay much a penalty for garbage collection, also fine. I just don't see the evidence that the approach hinted at has relevance to any context outsi…
What gave you the impression that the paper was supposed to have relevance outside of a classroom? The paper has practical applications to teaching, which should be self evident given the content and venue of the paper. If you don't care then don't upvote the story. But don't try to pass off your point as a valid criticism of the paper.
Sorry I wasn't clear. I wasn't trying to pass anything off. Someone posted a link to paper - I read it and wasn't impressed with the reasoning. (And less than impressed with the over-reaching metaphors.)
I do disagree with the author's apparent contention that, say, a historical appreciation of the evolving nature of programming paradigms is somehow holding students back today. Aside from argument by assertion, I'm missing the evidence that his approach is the solution to a problem.
What I was also missing, and am still unenlightened about after your response, is the relevance of his classroom approach to say, the readers here. It seems nearly monthly we have a story related to the virtues of SICP and that I get -- it's a great book that's changed a lot of programmer's perception of what programming is about. In this case, I'm missing a similar connection outside the classroom.
Re: Teaching programming languages: a novel approach
#9Krishnamurthi has also done some really great work teaching introductory programming. He and his coauthors wrote a book meant to occupy a similar space as SICP, available here: http://www.htdp.org . The reasons why they felt an additional text in place of SICP was necessary can be found here: http://www.ccs.neu.edu/scheme/pubs/jfp2004-fffk.pdf . Krishnamurthi and his colleagues also maintain Racket ( http://racket-la…
Thanks for posting those links. That explains a lot about where he's coming from -- I hadn't caught the Racket and HTDP connection when I posted my previous comment.
Re: Teaching programming languages: a novel approach
#10Shriram Krishnamurthi is a genius; I saw him at a conference last year and regardless of the topic of the talk given, he always had insightful comments and questions that were close to a level of having done the research himself. Honestly, I have never met anyone more competent in such a variety of topics.