Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!ut-sally!utah-cs!defun.utah.edu!shebs
From: shebs%defun.utah.edu.uucp@utah-cs.UUCP (Stanley T. Shebs)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: First Languages (yet again)
Message-ID: <5309@utah-cs.UUCP>
Date: 3 Mar 88 06:32:42 GMT
References: <4022@ames.arpa> <8200001@iuvax>
Sender: news@utah-cs.UUCP
Reply-To: shebs%defun.utah.edu.UUCP@utah-cs.UUCP (Stanley T. Shebs)
Organization: PASS Research Group
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In article <8200001@iuvax> emo@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu writes:

>[...] I would say without hesitation, that
>Scheme is an excellent choice for a first language... 

I agree.  On the other hand, I have not observed that students
who learn Scheme first are significantly better at doing "real"
programming - their C code is just as ugly.  (This is based on
a rather limited sample.)  Has anyone been able to demonstrate
that teaching a particular language first has a real effect on
program quality after graduation?

						stan shebs
						shebs@cs.utah.edu