[Edu-sig] A case against GUIs in intro CS :-)

[Nicola Larosa]

> Event-driven programming is a narrow, over-emphasized slice of the
> software experience,

No, this is going too far. Event-driven, asynchronous programming is not
limited to GUIs: it is instead a powerful, if a little invasive ;-) ,
concurrency model. Anyone who "got" Twisted ( http://twistedmatrix.com/ )
will never program the same way again. Drop those threads for good!


> and is particular damaging to start a CS major off that way.

Concurrency is hard. What is damaging is the current preponderance of the
broken threading model, so frequent in the Windows and Java worlds. A
balanced presentation of the pro and cons of the different concurrency
models - process-based, thread based and event-based - should be included
in every intermediate level programming course.

Not introductory stuff, for sure, but education nonetheless. :-)


-- 
Nicola Larosa - nico at tekNico.net

The computer, especially connected to the Internet, is the paradigm power
tool of our age. The sin would be to bring up a generation of passive
consumers who complain and whine because "it won't do what I want."
The mark of a successful civilization is it gives its people power over
its most powerful tools, and not vice versa. -- Kirby Urner, April 2005