Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!ukma!psuvm.bitnet!uh2
From: UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Soft eng in 1st yr classes
Message-ID: <37578UH2@PSUVM>
Date: 29 Mar 88 14:45:17 GMT
References: <1434@ur-tut.UUCP> <3415@bunker.UUCP> <5359@utah-cs.UUCP> <36845UH2@PSUVM> <563@psu-cs.UUCP> <1167@pembina.UUCP>
Organization: Penn Sate Erie--School of Business
Lines: 19

I really like Chris Shaws suggestions, and wanted to offer two additions:

1.  The Science of Programming, by David Gries, contains lots of examples
of very simple programs that are hard to design.  After studying that book,
I realized that there are two types of programs, ones where you know the
algorithm and only need to create the code, and ones where you have to
first invent the algorithm.  Gries book is about inventing algorithms.

2.  I have seen the broad spectrum of undergrads, as my academic career
has slid from UCI and Northwestern down to a branch campus of a mid-level
state school.  There is more difference than you might hope.

In particular, if I gave an assignment couched in "This is to show you
how much you don't know" my students would go straight to the Dean and
protest.

Still, with local cosmetic fixup, I think it is a good idea.

                                                            lee