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From: crocker@ihwpt.UUCP (ron crocker)
Newsgroups: net.lang.pascal,net.college
Subject: Re: pascal ass intro. language
Message-ID: <717@ihwpt.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 21-Feb-86 10:55:21 EST
Article-I.D.: ihwpt.717
Posted: Fri Feb 21 10:55:21 1986
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> *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE ***
> am interested to hear pros and conss about using pascal as the 
> language in which to teach introductory programming

I think PASCAL is a good choice for an introductory programming
language, but others are fine.  What PASCAL offers that some other
languages do not is:
1) recursion 
This is a nice thing for introductory classes.  I remember when I
took CS 121 at the U of I we used PL/I and used the recursive
features of the language to implement a recursive solution to the
Tower of Hanoi problem and implement a simple recursive descent
parser (although we didn't know that was what we were doing).
2) strong type checking
This will help keep these new programmers in line.  (Just imagine a
new programmer with C!)
3) data structures.  By having an introduction to simple data
structures early can help with more complicated structures later. 
PASCAL offers a fairly flexible method for implementing data
structures.

PASCAL has drawbacks (I/O for one) but is a better choice than
BASIC for an introductory course, in my opinion.

Ron Crocker
AT&T Bell Laboratories
Naperville-Wheaton Road
Naperville, IL  60566

Opinions expressed are mine alone and have nothing to do with my
employer or their agents.