Path: news.daimi.aau.dk!news.daimi.aau.dk!eernst From: eernst@tatra.daimi.aau.dk (Erik Ernst) Newsgroups: comp.lang.beta Subject: Re: Teaching BETA Date: 04 Jan 1995 01:16:36 GMT Organization: DAIMI, Computer Science Dept. of Aarhus Univ. Lines: 49 Message-ID: References: <3ecb84$l4g@harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au> NNTP-Posting-Host: tatra.daimi.aau.dk In-reply-to: dcmay1@mdw033.cc.monash.edu.au's message of 3 Jan 1995 20:15:00 GMT In article <3ecb84$l4g@harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au> dcmay1@mdw033.cc.monash.edu.au (Mr DC May) writes: > [...] > I have talked to Bent Kristensen about the learning curve of BETA - about > the fact that it is an "advanced" OO language, dealing with concepts and > constructs that are quite different, and more flexible than most > mainstream OO languages. > > But these concepts are a bit harder to grasp than just simple > "class/method", Ah, but the generality of the constructs is the very reason why it's so easy! Perhaps newcomers to BETA may find the concepts confusing and unfamiliar, but the fact that it is a very tight language with very few exceptions (i.e. very few special rules for special cases), the initially steep learning curve is soon conquered. Perhaps newcomers to _programming_ will appreciate the simplicity and consistency of BETA even more, because they don't have to "unlearn" the traditional concepts at first. As an example of the opposite, C++ may at first look intuitive (that is: familiar), but the daunting number of what-does-this-tiny-example- actually-do postings in comp.lang.c++ illustrates that this language has a lot of dark corners. So you may experience a jump start (seemingly) but then almost interminably struggle with unexpected complexities, not arising from the nature of the problem treated but from the lack of consistency and orthogonality of the language. I think familiarity is grossly overestimated! > and of course, the BETA syntax is rather legendary. :#) > The question therefore: is there anyone out there (e.g. Aarhus University) > that teaches BETA at a first-year introductory level? What are th ese > experiences? Here in Aarhus, BETA is used to introduce object orientation in a second-year course. Perhaps someone who actually taught this course will respond. Cheers, -- Erik Ernst eernst@daimi.aau.dk Computer Science Department of Aarhus University, Denmark