Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uupsi!cci632!ritcsh!ultb!ritvax.isc.rit.edu!jav8106 From: jav8106@ritvax.isc.rit.edu (Doctor FORTRAN) Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran Subject: Re: Teaching Fortran Message-ID: <1991Mar17.010359.12810@isc.rit.edu> Date: 17 Mar 91 00:34:09 GMT References: <9103131812.AA17727@sun.soe.clarkson.edu> Sender: news@isc.rit.edu (USENET News System) Reply-To: jav8106@ritvax.isc.rit.edu Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology Lines: 52 News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4 Nntp-Posting-Host: vaxc In article <9103131812.AA17727@sun.soe.clarkson.edu>, taylor@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Ross Taylor) writes... -I work at a small university in upstate NY. Most of the -students are engineers of one sort or another. All eng. -students are required to take a first semester course which, -among other things, attempts to teach them Fortran. For a -variety of reasons the course fails in that regard. The -students are unable to create even the simplest of programs and -get them write (pun intended). - -As a result, we are currently debating the re-structuring of the -Fortran course and/or its timing. I would like to hear from -fellow readers of this newsgroup who are involved with education -how their institution and/or dept handles any programming -requirements. First of all, let me say that just as flowers need sun, so do scientists and engineers need FORTRAN. What would happen if your ME students just couldn't cope with strength of materials? Or your EE students with circuits? Would you consider dropping those courses from the requirements? You mention that this first-semester course includes other things, in addition to FORTRAN. What other things? It sounds as if you're trying to cram too much material into a single semester -- a semester which, being the first, provides the students with plenty to cope with outside the classroom. If you are, in fact, making a half-hearted attempt, there is little wonder that your efforts have not been successful. [If, on the other hand, you have been making a full-hearted attempt, please accept my apologies, and direct all flames to /dev/null. :-) ] Some questions on elementary computer programming appear on the PE examination, which is as it should be. If you drop FORTRAN from your curriculum, it is quite possible that your school could lose its accreditation as an Engineering school, and your graduates would no longer be able to sit for the PE examination. Of course, some other language could be substituted, but if your students can't handle FORTRAN, I don't think they'll be able to tackle C or Pascal, which aren't even as important in science and engineering, anyway. Therefore, I urge you to double (at least) your efforts to teach FORTRAN to your undergraduates. C ========================================================================== C === This subroutine will write a signature at the end of a posting. Subroutine Signature Write (*, 101) 101 Format (1H1, 'Doctor FORTRAN', /, ' Master of the Realm', /, 1 ' Reply: jav8106@ritvax.isc.rit.edu') Return End