Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!cs.yale.edu!franciskovich-dennis
From: franciskovich-dennis@CS.YALE.EDU (Dennis Franciskovich)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: beginning language--APL
Summary: No longer used at Yale
Message-ID: <22081@cs.yale.edu>
Date: 10 Apr 90 02:27:04 GMT
References: <4900002@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <28729@cup.portal.com> <13351@thorin.cs.unc.edu>
Sender: news@cs.yale.edu
Reply-To: franciskovich-dennis@CS.YALE.EDU (Dennis Franciskovich)
Organization: Hell in a Bucket
Lines: 22

denelsbe@unc.cs.unc.edu (Kevin Denelsbeck) writes :
| In article <28729@cup.portal.com> Edward_M_Cherlin@cup.portal.com writes:
  [discussion of APL as a first language]
| >data processing, graphics, music and more.  This argument has been made
| >best by Prof. Alan Perlis, when be became chairman of the CS department
| >at Yale and made APL the first language for CS there.
|
|      I can't imagine its effects on non-CS people taking the course to
| fulfill a requirement.  Having TAed this course at a couple of strong
| universities, I can say that Pascal is enough of a challenge for many of
| these students, especially non-science majors.  Trying to help them fix
| a buggy APL program could be a time-consuming and confusing process for
| both student and TA.  (Any Yale TAs out there who could comment on this?)

APL has not been taught as the first language here since at least
Spring 1988.  The switch was made to Scheme, and now currently
Common LISP.  I did hear horror stories from some of the older
undergrads regarding this first course, although Prof. Perlis's
course had a reputation that was independent of the language
(I know this first-hand, having TA'd the course a few semesters ago).
--
Dennis