Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!tekcrl!brucec From: brucec@phoebus.phoebus.labs.tek.com (Bruce Cohen;;50-662;LP=A;) Newsgroups: comp.object Subject: Re: Teaching an Object-Oriented Pro Message-ID: Date: 17 Sep 90 18:29:57 GMT References: <90@ <77500057@m.cs.uiuc.edu> Sender: news@tekcrl.LABS.TEK.COM Organization: Tektronix Inc. Lines: 33 In-reply-to: johnson@m.cs.uiuc.edu's message of 16 Sep 90 04:37:00 GMT In article <77500057@m.cs.uiuc.edu> johnson@m.cs.uiuc.edu writes: > > I like to use Smalltalk to teach object-oriented programming because > the class library makes a great set of examples. The programming > environment makes programming fun, which always helps a class. On the > other hand, lots of other o-o languages come with good class libraries > and a nice programming environment. Unfortunately, C++ is not one of > them. > There's an additional reason for learning the basics of OOP from Smalltalk (or rather, not from C++): the model is clean and easy to see and understand. Everything is an object; there aren't any special cases, and there isn't a lot of hairy syntax. I learned Smalltalk first, so that when I came to C++ I understood the basic concepts, and could concentrate on learning the complexities of the language. Several people I know were exposed to C++ first; their knowledge of C didn't help them understand the object paradigm, or with the additional complexity of C++. They were well out to sea for some time, and it wasn't until they actually had used the language in a fair-sized project that they understood the application of the object concepts. Before someone starts another "first languages can permanently damage your brain" flamewar, let me point out that these people did eventually understood what was going on, but it took longer and was considerably more painful than it needed to be. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: USE THIS ADDRESS TO REPLY, REPLY-TO IN HEADER MAY BE BROKEN! Bruce Cohen, Computer Research Lab email: brucec@tekcrl.labs.tek.com Tektronix Laboratories, Tektronix, Inc. phone: (503)627-5241 M/S 50-662, P.O. Box 500, Beaverton, OR 97077