CP4E was Re: Deitel and Deitel Book...

[Geoff Gerrietts]

Quoting Ramkumar Kashyap (rkashyap at sympatico.ca):
> Somebody in this thread raised the point that the logic involved in 
> programming in not intuitive.  I agree with that. The point I want to 
> make is that there are programs like Hooked-on-Phonics, and other 
> remedial language programs that are quite effective in raising the 
> literacy levels among adults.  

Yes! And I'm interested in getting to the point of at least some
general pointers toward how to go about teaching languages. In my
professional capacity, I'm often called on to teach programming
concepts to my peers, or to provide training on various aspects of a
project's architecture. Some of that is because of my background, some
of it is because I don't mind doing it nearly as much as the average
engineer.

> Another point (this is purely from observation and others with children 
> may want to corroborrate) is that children tend to learn faster and 
> retain longer with repetition.  I don't know if there are any people on 
> CLP who are also conversant with the human brain and can shed light on 
> the formation of new neural pathways etc.

I know just enough to spout off like I know a lot, but I think others
can talk more. I think I'll refrain from spouting too much....

I will say that I think the gender thing is a biological difference,
though. Women, especially when younger, have better cooperation
between their "left" and "right" brain. This makes them great at a lot
of things. Men have less cooperation, which makes them better at
focussing on a single task.

This is (of course) a gross overgeneralization. When you actually
trace into the neuroscience around it, all the "except" and "but you
hafta understand" conditions mitigate this down to a discernable trend
but nothing like an absolute.

I think that maybe there's a way to build in appeal for highly
coordinated thinkers, too -- I learned to program largely by thinking
of it as a more challenging form of poetry -- but I'm not sure how to
make that appeal broad.

(Maybe saying something about gender differences is too controversial,
so if you're feeling like I need a good flaming, consider how your
flame will contribute to the development of teaching strategies,
please!)

> I should also confess that I have an ulterior motive in this
> discussion, which is to teach my kid to program, (which is still a
> few years away).

Hee! Me too. I think the best advice I've gotten so far is to do it
and enjoy it and make it accessible. I'm personally thinking that
I'm going to use Lego Mindstorms as a starting point. He likes Legos,
likes robots, and in a few years, he might be able to put them
together....

--G.

-- 
Geoff Gerrietts             "Punctuality is the virtue of the bored." 
<geoff at gerrietts net>                               --Evelyn Waugh