Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!ames!uhccux!munnari.oz.au!uqcspe!batserver!paul From: paul@batserver.cs.uq.oz (Paul Bailes) Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc Subject: Re: Which language to teach first? Message-ID: <1381@batserver.cs.uq.oz> Date: 24 Aug 89 23:32:09 GMT References: <2584@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> <6226@hubcap.clemson.edu> <761@skye.ed.ac.uk> <5823@ficc.uu.net> Sender: news@batserver.cs.uq.oz Reply-To: paul@batserver.cs.uq.oz Organization: Computer Science Department, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia Lines: 11 In article <5823@ficc.uu.net> karl@ficc.uu.net (karl lehenbauer) writes: > >For better or for worse, most incoming CS freshmen already know how to program. >-- Just what trivial function do describe as ``to program''? If you take it to mean something along the lines of ``tell a computer to do what you want'' (subject to any meaningful performance/correctness constraints), then after 3-4 years of university people still can't! Paul