[Edu-sig] Microsoft's KPL

[Laura Creighton]

Do you know about PyPy?  http://codespeak.net/pypy/dist/pypy/doc/news.html
It sounds to me as if you have the sort of upper level students that
would appreciate a compiler they can hack.  We like students.  JIT
goes in this week.

unashamed product announcement,
Laura

In a message of Sat, 08 Oct 2005 11:11:37 MDT, Chuck Allison writes:
>Hello Kirby et al,
>
>Here in Utah we have the newly formed Neumont University, which is
>largely supported by MSFT and IBM. In 2.5 years students get a
>"bachelors" in CS. I put it in quotes because, having visited them and
>heard their spiel and studied their offerings, I believe they are
>skimping on the liberal arts side (and even the theoretical CS side)
>of the baccalaureate and churning out recruits for said companies
>above (the ever-tempting "short cut"). While their graduates will
>indeed be effective in some technical workplaces, I think the slanted
>education will take its toll. As a college professor, I am concerned
>for people who go that fit-a-mold route.
>
>About Arthur's "affiliated" comments, having been both affiliated and
>non, I've found that I personally can make a greater contribution as
>an affiliated worker (I sensed some cynical disapproval thereof from
>Arthur). That doesn't stop me from publishing, lecturing, and doing
>many other things on the side, while leveraging the benefits and
>resources of the affiliation. One can be a "team player" and an
>independent thinker simultaneously.
>
>I believe I will soon be successful in making Python our introductory
>CS language (for CS0, though, not CS1). I still use it in upper
>division courses whenever possible. (It's a delight in an advanced
>Programming languages course - a natural to illustrate closures,
>delegation, etc., and as a bridge to functional programming.)
>
>-- 
>Best regards,
> Chuck