TITLE: Choosing the Right Languages for Early CS Instruction is Important
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: June 05, 2014  2:45 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
In
<A HREF="http://www.acm.org/membership/acm-bulletin-archive/2014-bulletins/poa-knuth">
   today's ACM interview</A>,
Donald Knuth identifies one of the problems he has with
computer science instruction:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 Similarly, the most common fault in computer classes is to
 emphasize the rules of specific programming languages,
 instead of to emphasize the algorithms that are being
 expressed in those languages.  It's bad to dwell on form
 over substance.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

I agree.  The challenges are at least two in number:
<UL>
<LI> ... finding the right level of support for the student
     learning his or her first language.  It is harder for
     students to learn their first language than many people
     realize until after they've tried to teach them.  </LI>
<BR/>
<LI> ... helping students develop the habit and necessary
     skills to learn new languages on their own with some
     facility.  For many, this involves overcoming the fear
     they feel until they have done it on their own a time
     or two.  </LI>
</UL>

Choosing the right languages can greatly help in conquering
Challenges 1 and 2.  Choosing the wrong languages can make
overcoming them almost impossible, if only because we lose
students before they cross the divide.

I guess that makes choosing the right languages Challenge 3.
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