Python is now the most popular introductory language at top U.S. universities
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Re: Python is now the most popular introductory language at top U.S. universities
#2a language without types, without extensive research? Then, why not C/D/Pascal. i strongly believe for universities sml/ocaml/haskell or even rust are far better choices. I prefer sml.
Re: Python is now the most popular introductory language at top U.S. universities
#3a language without types, without extensive research? Then, why not C/D/Pascal. i strongly believe for universities sml/ocaml/haskell or even rust are far better choices. I prefer sml.
Python's syntax is a breeze to get ahold of without any experience making it ideal for introducing people to CS and algorithmic thinking without overwhelming them with theory or syntax.
Also, a lot of colleges (at least the best ones) offer functional programming in a second semester intro course (Berkeley does Scheme I believe). My own institution uses SML.
Re: Python is now the most popular introductory language at top U.S. universities
#4a language without types, without extensive research? Then, why not C/D/Pascal. i strongly believe for universities sml/ocaml/haskell or even rust are far better choices. I prefer sml.
rust? please. maybe 3 years from now, once it matures. python is good for teaching programming because it's easy to read - a feature that not a single language you mention can brag about.
Re: Python is now the most popular introductory language at top U.S. universities
#5a language without types, without extensive research? Then, why not C/D/Pascal. i strongly believe for universities sml/ocaml/haskell or even rust are far better choices. I prefer sml.
Is your name Bob Harper? :)
Functional still isn't that popular, in spite of a few vocal supporters. Even MIT went from scheme to Python for their sicp training.
Re: Python is now the most popular introductory language at top U.S. universities
#6a language without types, without extensive research? Then, why not C/D/Pascal. i strongly believe for universities sml/ocaml/haskell or even rust are far better choices. I prefer sml.
rust? please. maybe 3 years from now, once it matures. python is good for teaching programming because it's easy to read - a feature that not a single language you mention can brag about.
It's easy to read and it just makes more sense when someone only knows English.
I could show this to my 80 year old grandmother and have her understand what it does with minimal help on my part.
word_list = ["hat", "dog", "cat"]
for word in word_list:
print(word)
String[] word_list = {"hat", "dog", "cat"}
for(int i=0; i String[] word_list = {"hat", "dog", "cat"}
for(String word: wordlist){
System.out.println(word);
}Re: Python is now the most popular introductory language at top U.S. universities
#7a language without types, without extensive research? Then, why not C/D/Pascal. i strongly believe for universities sml/ocaml/haskell or even rust are far better choices. I prefer sml.
Unless your university is really weird, I can guarantee you will learn many more languages than just the intro language. When I got my computer engineering degree in the early 2000's I was exposed to C, C++, Java, Scheme & Lisp, SPARC & 68k assembly, and even a bit of Python. Learning Python as the intro language instead of C++ would have been much nicer for folks who were completely green to programming.
Re: Python is now the most popular introductory language at top U.S. universities
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
rust? please. maybe 3 years from now, once it matures. python is good for teaching programming because it's easy to read - a feature that not a single language you mention can brag about.
It's easy to read and it just makes more sense when someone only knows English. I could show this to my 80 year old grandmother and have her understand what it does with minimal help on my part. word_list = ["hat", "dog", "cat"] for word in word_list: print(word) The same example in Java isn't extremely hard to understand, but it definitely is a decent jump in complexity from the almost plain English syntax of Python…
To be fair, couldn't you use java's foreach instead of the regular for-loop? It makes things a bit less noisy.
Re: Python is now the most popular introductory language at top U.S. universities
#9a language without types, without extensive research? Then, why not C/D/Pascal. i strongly believe for universities sml/ocaml/haskell or even rust are far better choices. I prefer sml.
SML is great, but based on the UW paradigms course, I'd say it gets a lot of backlash from students wanting something common in industry.
Transitioning first classes from C to go would make great sense, but it looks like a lot of schools already replaced C with Java and C++ as first languages.
Personally, I do think there is merit in teaching a primarily imperative language first, if only to appreciate other paradigms later and get an inkling of what is really going on beneath your code.
Re: Python is now the most popular introductory language at top U.S. universities
#10a language without types, without extensive research? Then, why not C/D/Pascal. i strongly believe for universities sml/ocaml/haskell or even rust are far better choices. I prefer sml.
It's the language for an introductory course, so it's purpose is more of a gateway language than as a be-all-end-all language.
Rust would probably be too strict and annoying as a first language. Maybe the same is the case for Haskell, but maybe it isn't such a big deal for those that haven't been "spoiled" by imperative languages and thinking already.