Xref: utzoo comp.lang.c:26545 comp.edu:3039 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!leah!bingvaxu!cjoslyn From: cjoslyn@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu (Cliff Joslyn) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.edu Subject: Comments on new Kelley and Pohl /A Book on C/, other C teaching stuff Message-ID: <3087@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu> Date: 4 Mar 90 04:24:13 GMT Organization: SUNY Binghamton, NY Lines: 40 A while back I asked this group for good refs to C textbooks. This semester I'm a new C teacher, and I'm reconsidering the text and my methods going into the summer semester. We rejected the old Kelly and Pohl's /A Book on C/ because it seemed really insufficient and incoherent. Eventually I settled on Kochan's /Programming in ANSI C/, which is OK, if a bit shallow on technical details, examples, and exercises. Now they've produced a second edition, which is significantly revised. It is much more in depth, with a lot of care to pedagogical devices and sufficient depth on important topics. I've also been referred to Tom Plum's /Learning to Program in C/. Is it ANSI? We need that. . . The other problem I've been struggling with all through this class is a bit of an *ordering* problem. Are there opinions on the right order to introduce subjects in? For example: arrays, structures, unions, then pointers, in order to talk about pointers to aggregate types of all kinds; or arrays and pointers together for the conceptual tightness, then what about structures and unions before or after? Control flow statements before or after functions? Defined constants and macros soon after functions in order to write good code soon, or deal with the whole preprocessor towards the end as an "advanced" feature? An overall question is whether to "preview" useful but perhaps potentially dangerous features which the student must accept on faith until dealt with sufficiently later on, or to rigorously introduce features in depth and in logical order. Examples: scanf() seems necessary early on, but I can't explain &num then or #include in depth; using function return values before explanations of function declarations and prototypes; etc. This goes to the question of whether a first "tutorial chapter" with a preview is a good idea (K+R, Kelley and Pohl) or not (Kochan). Any help would be appreciated. . . -- O-------------------------------------------------------------------------> | Cliff Joslyn, Cybernetician at Large, cjoslyn@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu | Systems Science, SUNY Binghamton, Box 1070, Binghamton NY 13901, USA V All the world is biscuit shaped. . .