OO Programming at Carnegie Mellon U

[keith smith]

The article referes to a PDF : http://reports-archive.adm.cs.cmu.edu/anon/2010/CMU-CS-10-140.pdf

On page three and four there is this statement:

- - - - - 

• Promoting Computational Thinking. Prof. Jeannette Wing introduced this term [7] to capture
the idea that computer scientists have developed unique ways of formulating and solving
computational problems, yielding a rigorous discipline with a well-defined intellectual core.
The principles embodied in this core can inform other disciplines, including math, science,
engineering, as well as aspects of humanities, arts, and business. We would like to pursue
her vision by bringing elements of computational thinking into our introductory computer
science courses, especially those targeting nonmajors. We believe that, even for nonmajors,
our introductory courses can serve the dual roles of providing a useful set of computer science
skills while also providing a rigorous grounding in computational thinking, enabling
students to acquire new skills throughout their careers.
• Increasing software reliability. There is a growing sense that we must inject greater discipline
into the software development process. As computer programs control safety critical
systems, the consequences of bugs become much more serious. In addition, the rising number
and sophistication of malicious hackers create an environment in which seemingly minor
bugs lead to serious security breaches. Inspired by the work of Prof. Edmund Clarke, we believe
it is important to introduce students to the tools and techniques by which they can
reason about and evaluate their programs right from the start.
• Preparing for a world of parallel computation. Maintaining the ever-increasing computer
performance we have experienced since the 1950s will soon require that we write programs
that can exploit parallel computation. With the exception of several upper-level and graduate
courses, our current presentations of how computers operate, how they are programmed, and
what constitutes an efficient algorithm are based on a purely sequential model. As championed
by Prof. Guy Blelloch [3], we want our students to think about how to decompose a
problem such that many parts of the problem can be solved in parallel.

 - - - - - 

I did not read on as the PDF is 28 pages long.

I attended college before OO was our there.  It was all procedural.  I was first exposed to OO whe Visual FoxPro became OO in 1995.  

Later I heard schools were using Java to teach programming at a entry level.  I did not understand that.  I personally believe entry level programming should be taught using C.  Teach very basic procedural programming.  Then build on that.  

Seems they want to satisfy two different goals.  Introducing programming to non CS majors and address the need for parallel programming skills and understanding.


------------------------

Keith Smith



2 Chronicles 7:14 (New International) : if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

--- On Sat, 3/26/11, Dazed_75 <lthielster at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Dazed_75 <lthielster at gmail.com>
Subject: OO Programming at Carnegie Mellon U
To: "Main PLUG discussion list" <plug-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
Date: Saturday, March 26, 2011, 8:08 AM

Wow!  Apparently they are dropping OO from the early CS curriculum.  From the article:

Object-oriented programming is eliminated entirely from the introductory
 curriculum, because it is both anti-modular and anti-parallel by its 
very nature, and hence unsuitable for a modern CS curriculum.  A 
proposed new course on object-oriented design methodology will be 
offered at the sophomore level for those students who wish to study this
 topic.

http://existentialtype.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/teaching-fp-to-freshmen/

-- 
Dazed_75 a.k.a. Larry


The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.
  - Thomas Jefferson


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