[Year 12 Its] Programming languages - IT 1&2 & Software 3&4

[gordonp at horsham-college.vic.edu.au]

Your criteria differ a little from the VCAA ones Con.

>If kids aren't interested in learning the technical 
> complexities of software construction, why are they >doing these subjects? 

Where do you start for a big rural school? I have 2 classes of Systems. 50% of the kids just want a VCE and are not interested in an ENTER score. 25% want an ENTER but will never use ie work on farm or family business etc. The other quarter expect to go to uni but only 2 of my students will go into IT courses. These 2 (actually in Year 11) will do a 1st year Java course next year with my help and have some credit up their sleeves for uni the following year.

In short they are doing this subject for a multitude of reasons with very few (in my part of the world) interested in IT as a career. 



                        gordon

Con Zymaris <conz at cyber.com.au> on Wed, 7 Jun 2006 10:16:54 +1000 wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 07, 2006 at 08:36:41AM +1000, gordonp at horsham-college.vic.edu.au wrote:
> > Yes Con i know it comes from one of evil software vendors, but it is 
> > very good, and another way to get kids enjoying their programming 
> > (almost as good as VB!) 
> 
> 
> So that we're all clear on this, my argument has nothing to do with 'evil 
> software vendors'. It has everything to do with DET being lodged so 
> thoroughly in the proprietary mindset. Yes I know they list PHP etc on the 
> accepted languages list, but I don't see the open source indistry being 
> given tens of millions of dollars each software refresh cycle, like the 
> proprietary software vendors are.
> 
> I would posit that preference should always be given to languages which:
> 
> a) teach solid software construction skills
> b) are industry accepted
> c) are available on multiple platforms
> b) are available from multiple vendors
> 
> Actionscript, however, doesn't need to abide by these rules, as it's not a 
> general-purpose programming language. It's something used for the 
> construction of animated Flash content, only.
> 
> In honesty, I have nothing agains you teaching Actionscript. It's a
> domain-specific language in an area where there are no open standards.  
> It's a fine choice for developing visual trinkets and games. You want to
> entice kids towards programming animation with Actionscript, go for it.
> You start pushing Actionscript and Flash as a way to do websites however,
> then I have serious concerns. ;-)
> 
> And I have a question. If kids aren't interested in learning the technical 
> complexities of software construction, why are they doing these subjects? 
> Software construction is hard - let no-one tell you otherwise. Even tools 
> which make the intial part of software construction easy, through 
> drag-drop GUI bulders, don't protect from the hike in complexities which 
> come later on in the software development lifecycle.
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Con Zymaris
> 
> - CEO, Cybersource Pty. Ltd.
> - Director, Open Source Industry Australia, Limited.
> - Convenor, Open Source Victoria (A Government-funded industry cluster.)
> -- 
> ___________________________________________________________________________
> Con Zymaris <conz at cyber.com.au> Level 4, 10 Queen St, Melbourne, Australia 
> Cybersource: Australia's Leading Linux and Open Source Solutions Company 
> Web: http://www.cyber.com.au/  Phone: 03 9621 2377   Fax: 03 9621 2477
> 
> 
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---
Gordon Poultney