[Edu-sig] Re: Edu-sig digest, Vol 1 #72 - 7 msgs

Sin Hang Kin kentsin@poboxes.com
Thu, 4 May 2000 07:10:52 +0800


> Guido van Rossum writes:
>  > Interestingly enough, I believe that programming itself,
>  > i.e. expressing the intended operation of a computer program, is best
>  > done through text.  I guess that means that I believe that text
>  > (symbols) is more powerful than images; while a picture may be worth a
>  > thousand words, in my experience, most meaningful collections of a
>  > thousand words are hard to capture in a picture.  (You can also see
>  > a program as a two-dimensional picture made up out of symbols.)

I have to point out it is not true.

TEXT is simpler and easier to serialize, but other forms are difficult but
more powerful.

I certainly not seeing computering programming in multimedia form. But
consider makeing a comparision of textbook and multimedia education kit. The
media kit is much powerful than text version. However, it is also much more
difficult to make (right).

In communication, the multimedia form is much much more powerful,
comparision reading a book and going through a movie, you will find the
movie version make the content into you and the book have more room for you
to choose.

Consider programming in text and programming in graphic or multimedia, I do
believe that graphic and multimedia is more powerful. Only the problem is
that currently, we do not have the knowledge to handle that well.

The CP4E project should take more look into the learning process other than
the computing process.

Language is a tool of through, certainly PYTHON is a good, but if we would
wanted to make it into the classroom especially as the first programming
language, we should care more about the setting it would forced into the
student's mind in the rest of his life.

I have been put through some logic class, and that change my mind
completely. I should also assume the computer programming experience will
change your view of the would dramatically. However, if we could teach a
child in early years to program, it will certainly change the habit of
thinking for the rest of their life.

I know that is beyond this project, but it need a deep through before
implement it widely.

Rgs,

KentSin