Teaching how to code is broken

It can be quite fun to implement a simple data structure (tree, queue, etc.). in C and bind it to Python.

Otherwise, you can get a lot of dirty details by reading the source to complicated/magical libraries (e.g. pickle).

I see the following as the biggest unsolved problems:

1. Online learning rarely teaches you what you should be learning. Resources are useless if you don't know which subject matter is right for you yet. 2. Platforms don't give you a feel for "completion", e g. when and how should I start job searching. 3. You don't get personal mentorship or cohort support like you would at school 4. Too many videos, not enough code. Almost all learning when it comes to coding should include writing code. 5. Healthy mix of guided and unguided learning. Courses are great for abstract concepts, projects need to follow so that you can apply what you learn on your own

I don’t think the order of teaching presented in the article as bad actually is bad. What I think the problem I and others had is learning from a book to start with is really hard. Stuff doesn’t get retained well or make sense.

Programming finally clicked for me when I did the codeacademy class for JavaScript in 2012. What helped was it wasn’t just shoving walls or text at me. It was “here is a very tiny concept, go try it. Now here is another tiny concept, try this”

It's been common for a decade now to recommend beginners on the internet looking for an intro to CS the course Harvard CS50. The course has attracted criticism for be overwhelming for a single semester, as it requires submitting assignments in Scratch, C, Python, SQL, and HTML/JS. However, I think it, like other well-acclaimed intro to CS courses do teach problem solving in via hand-held labs and problem sets. Perhaps its prevalence suggests the course is influential in the way CS is taught, but outside of Yale copying the course, I'm not sure.

I think the problem sets in CS 50 are effective for teaching problem solving. Looking at examples of problem sets for the most recent semester (I did the Fall 2012, so it's changed a bit) there is...

- making an animation or game in Scratch which must have have a loop, condition, and variable - printing pyramids of # characters - caesar encryption - ballot counting - implementing bitmap image filters - a spell checker - writing SQL queries against a database of movies - writing the frontend of a website - writing a basic full-stack web app

I guess the main difference between the course and the post's proposal is that it doesn't follow a single narrative, so when you apply concepts in your head is only after the first introduction.

Looking on other resources I encountered at Georgia Tech, I remember both the intro to CS class I saw others take and the cool, interactive intro to CS textbook Mark Guzdial showed my class How to Think Like a Computer Scientist [1]. They both start with python turtle graphics towards the beginning to teach variables and loops before venturing off into other concepts. I think the first half of Automate the Boring stuff with Python actually faces the issues the author cites before diving into common applications in the second half; I do wonder now many working professionals learned from this text which I've generally liked at a glance. I suppose the most influential intro to CS materials are for AP CS A, although I'm not familiar with the course.

[1] https://runestone.academy/ns/books/published//thinkcspy/inde...

1 was along the lines of what was on the top of this article: Chapter 1: Types Chapter 2: Variables Chapter 3: Operators/Math Chapter 4: Control structures Chapter 5: Arrays Chapter 6: Functions Chapter 7: Structs Chapter 8: Classes and Objects Chapter 9: Methods Chapter 10: Inheritance and Polymorphism

And 2 was algorithms (sorts, etc)

Then the Java class was: Chapter 1: Types Chapter 2: Variables Chapter 3: Operators/Math Chapter 4: Control structures Chapter 5: Arrays Chapter 6: Functions Chapter 7: Structs Chapter 8: Classes and Objects Chapter 9: Methods Chapter 10: Inheritance and Polymorphism

But not much about what you can do in Java specifically.

I understand going over these concepts briefly and how to do them specifically in that class, but to have the whole class focus on them was not very useful. Again, 101 was a PREREQUISITE! So there shouldn't be anyone in the class who hasn't taken it!