Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!geac!jtsv16!blister!itcyyz!yrloc!rbe
From: rbe@yrloc.ipsa.reuter.COM (Robert Bernecky)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: Teaching Fortran
Message-ID: <1991Mar25.204402.769@yrloc.ipsa.reuter.COM>
Date: 25 Mar 91 20:44:02 GMT
References: <9103131812.AA17727@sun.soe.clarkson.edu> <8110@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>
Reply-To: rbe@yrloc.ipsa.reuter.COM (Robert Bernecky)
Organization: Snake Island Research Inc, Toronto
Lines: 17

Henry Ross writes recently about the troubles of teaching Fortran.

I guess I have a few questions:

a. What background do you presume for the students? No computing, some
   games and simple programming?

b. What math background?

I'm wondering if it might make sense to introduce computing and computational
mathematics using APL, J, or Mathematica, and THEN introduce Fortran only
at the end of the course, as a "For industrial strength applications 
written in industry, use Fortran" approach. 
That way, you decompose the problem into two bits: Learning computing, and 
learning Fortran.

Bob