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From: brian@cat28.CS.WISC.EDU (Brian Miller)
Newsgroups: comp.edu,comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Re: CS-1
Keywords: beginning computer science course
Message-ID: <2680@puff.cs.wisc.edu>
Date: 4 May 89 17:16:49 GMT
References: <2130@iitmax.IIT.EDU> <2394@brahma.cs.hw.ac.uk>
Sender: news@puff.cs.wisc.edu
Reply-To: brian@cat28.CS.WISC.EDU (Brian Miller)
Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept
Lines: 25

In article <2394@brahma.cs.hw.ac.uk> nick@cs.hw.ac.uk (Nick Taylor) writes:
>In article <2130@iitmax.IIT.EDU> thssccb@iitmax.IIT.EDU (catherine c bareiss) writes:
>>I am designing a beginning programming course.
>>
>>The structure is to be as follows:
>>       One day a week, a lecture on a topic (using psuedo code).
>                                              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>Is this a good idea? I know it is becoming more and more common to do this
>but I harbour deep suspicions that it might actually make the learning task
>more confusing. I would be interested in people's comments on the use of
>pseudo-code as an aid to programming language teaching - especially for
>teaching a first language.

I agree.  Pseudo-code is a waste of time.  Teach the language and its
principles (sp?).  My assembly language teacher spent a week-and-a-half
outlining a hypothetical computer and no one in the class appreciated it.
Remember, pseudo-code in any form is itself a descriptive language.  This
means you have to spend time to familiarize your students with _it_, as
well as the real language.  If you think that it is important that the
students see that language X (the real language you may teach) is not
the _only_ way to talk to a computer or to outline an algorithm, then
introduce them to a second real language a well.  The more real world you
give your students, the less pissed-off the hard to please ones will be
and the more awakened the "slow" ones will be.