map/filter/reduce/lambda opinions and background unscientific mini-survey

[mcherm at gmail.com]

Up until a few years ago, I ran the computer science department at a
high-school. I provided support for the English teachers who taught
*all* students -- but they taught things like the use of a word
processor or the internet, and never covered the meaning of "lambda". I
taught a computer applications course which was taken by only small
fraction of the students (<10%) but there I taught things like the use
of photo-editing software, creating web sites, and the use of simple
databases; I never covered the meaning of "lambda". I also taught the
programming class (taken by only a dozen or so students per graduating
class) -- students learned basic concepts like variables, looping, up
through fancier bits like a couple different sorting algorithms. But I
didn't cover the meaning of "lambda". And I also taught the "AP"
computer course (taken by an average of just 4 students per year!), in
which I explained things like object oriented programming and recursion
and managed to get the students to the level where they could work
together as a group to write a moderately complex program, like a
simple video game. And I didn't teach the meaning of "lambda", nor was
it covered by the "AP" exam, which is supposed to be equivalent to a
single college-level course in computer programming.

So I'd say that it's a pretty obscure name that most people wouldn't
know.

And besides, "def" isn't a "magic" word... it's an abreviation for
"define"... I hope that any student who didn't understand a word as
common as "define" wouldn't have graduated from our school.

-- Michael Chermside