[Year 12 SofDev] Slightly off topic question

[Kent Beveridge]

Hey there Mark...
I gave the 'Swift Playgrounds' Apple language a run this year with the 7/8 crew on their iPADS. It uses functions and looping in its learning phase. Plus...the kids enjoyed it as it had an animated character they were making do the moves(visual aspect!).

just a thought...

Kent.

Kent Beveridge
Teacher

________________________________
From: sofdev [sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au] on behalf of Mark [mark at vceit.com]
Sent: Wednesday, 13 December 2017 2:12 PM
To: Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Year 12 SofDev] Slightly off topic question


On Wed, Dec 13, 2017 at 11:18 AM, Paragreen, Chris J <paragreen.chris.j at edumail.vic.gov.au<mailto:paragreen.chris.j at edumail.vic.gov.au>> wrote:

I haven’t, but it gives me an idea …. A good way to embed some algorithmic thinking …?

Chris

I fully endorse the brief exposure of SD students to the concept of assembly code - even machine code, and how CPUs work in binary with registers and stuff.
But... going to that depth to teach algorithms may be less beneficial.

You may risk losing sight of the overall algorithm in the tortuous and bulky detail of the assembly code...
High level source code hides the gory complexities of CPU operations and lets humans focus on higher, more spiritual and abstract programming matters.
That's one of the reasons the exam only deals in generic, high-level pseudocode.

<RANT>

In fact SD pcode is so high level that I have yet to see any VCAA exam pseudocode that even calls a function using parameters!
This really need to happen soon.
The lack of functions in pcode is a serious deficiency in examining students' understanding of basic modular programming.

Would it be so hard for pseudocode like...

sampletext <-- "foobar"
mode <-- "upper"
newtext <-- CHANGECASE(sampletext, mode)
DISPLAY newtext

and then include a function like

FUNCTION CHANGECASE(T,M)
  IF M == "upper" THEN
     Convert T to uppercase
  ELSEIF m == "lower" THEN
     Convert T to lowercase
  ELSE
      DISPLAY "Mode parameter must be UPPER or LOWER"
 END IF
 RETURN T
END FUNCTION

... and then a nice question about calling the function, passing some parameters, and using the function's output?

Think of how deliciously juicy the exam pseudocode could become with the added milky goodness of functions...  drool.

</RANT>

My point is, it can be all too easy to get lost in the lower-level opcodes and forget the overall shape and intention of the algorithm one was supposed to be working for.

I don't miss the days when I could calculate in hexadecimal as easily as I could in decimal.
Now I expect software to carry that mundane load for me, like a faithful servant, so I can dwell on more lofty and ethereal matters.

Like lunch.

--

Mark Kelly

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