Re: peasant revolt against DrScheme!

[Michael Vanier <mvanier@bbb.caltech.edu>]

Wow, it sounds like the faculty at Brown actually *care* about their
undergraduate students!  That kind of attitude will get you kicked out of
Caltech ;-)

<way off-topic>
Out of curiosity, do you use SML or Ocaml as in the ML part of your class?
</way off-topic>

Mike


> From: Shriram Krishnamurthi <sk@cs.brown.edu>
> 
> Leo Razoumov wrote:
> 
> > Regarding Caltech (other universities as well) freshmen student pro
> > C/C++ revolts one should remember one thing: majority of them (the
> > ones who protest most loudly) likely have already gotten some
> > exposure to C/C++ languages during their high school years.  They
> > just might not want to learn "yet another language" which from their
> > prespective has no practical value.
> 
> I'm happy to report that the situation at Brown is quite different,
> and in fact rather pleasant.
> 
> Brown has *two* year-long introductory sequences.  The traditional
> one, 15-16, is managed by Andy van Dam.  The new one, 17-18, was
> designed by Phil Klein, Leslie Pack Kaelbling and John Hughes.
> 
> 15-16 uses only Java.  In the first semester, students primarily learn
> to program in Java (so I am told; I have not observed the sequence
> closely), using lots of TA-written support code.  In the second
> semester they emphasize algorithms and design patterns.
> 
> 17-18 was created a few years ago as an alternative to 15-16.  It is
> based on two principles: that the material be "integrated", ie,
> algorithms and design are taught throughout; and that it rely on as
> little "magic" (ie, random TA code) as possible.  Not surprisingly,
> it's hard to teach in Java without support.  Instead, 17-18 uses
> Scheme and ML in the first semester, and Java (with possibly some more
> ML) in the second semester.  I couldn't have asked for a better order.
> 
> Both courses coexist peacefully.  In the first week, van Dam and
> Hughes go to each others' courses to pitch their own (Brown has a
> vigorous "shopping" tradition for courses).  You can't switch tracks
> mid-stream.  Instead, the two courses must satisfy a common interface
> at the end of the year, which is primarily a knowledge of certain
> algorithmic material, basic programming skills, and Java.