[Year 12 SofDev] choosing a language for 2008

[Kevork Krozian]

Hi Steven ,

  Thanks for your input. 

Do we have a spanner in the works here if the majority are using VB ?
What is the quality of "input" you are getting from schools' "output" at present ?

Also, how long would it take in your view to teach a student these principles if they start with no programming background , 
in terms of hours keeping in mind the 2 SAC specifications in the course  ?  

I suspect schools may be under pressure to deliver all this. If that is true what should be done about it ?

More questions ........


Keep well

Kevork

>>> "Steven Bird" <sb at csse.unimelb.edu.au> 18/09/2007 11:52 am >>>
On 9/18/07, Mark Kelly <kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au> wrote:
> VB6 'cos...
>
> 1.  I already was familiar with it and did not have time to learn a new
> language in 2007
> 2.  It's free for gov't schools
> 3.  Lotsa support
> 4.  It has all the classical programming constructs (except pointers),
> making a good jumping-off point to other languages
> 5.  It's RAD
> 6.  It's relatively easy to teach (BASIC began as a teaching language)

In addition to these desiderata, it would be good if the chosen
language supported the
teaching of key computing principles and practices such as
decomposition, encapsulation, procedural abstraction, code reuse, and
testing.  Its not clear that VB is the best choice here.

Remember that your output is our input :-)

-Steven Bird (coordinator of new first year IT stream at Melbourne Uni)
http://www.csse.unimelb.edu.au/~sb/ 
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