Path: news.daimi.aau.dk!news.uni-c.dk!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!Germany.EU.net!Informatik.Uni-Dortmund.DE!polly!wr From: wr@polly.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Wilfried Rupflin) Newsgroups: comp.lang.beta Subject: Re: Teaching BETA Date: 5 Jan 1995 10:33:53 GMT Organization: CS Department, Dortmund University, Germany Lines: 70 Sender: wr@polly (Wilfried Rupflin) Distribution: world Message-ID: <3eghuh$cd1@fbi-news.informatik.uni-dortmund.de> References: <3ecb84$l4g@harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au> NNTP-Posting-Host: polly.informatik.uni-dortmund.de >In article <3ecb84$l4g@harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au> dcmay1@mdw033.cc.monash.edu .au (Mr DC May) writes: > >> [...] >> 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? At University Dortmund, CS dept., it was decided to introduce BETA as the main language for teaching starting with this winter term. Currently the beginner's introductory lecture (called Programming I) is run with BETA. Surprisingly we had neither didactical nor technical problems so far (with over 300 students!). >> [...] >> 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. > >Erik Ernst eernst@daimi.aau.dk >Computer Science Department of Aarhus University, Denmark From our experience here in Dortmund I can fully confirm Erik's statement. Our freshmen have less difficulties in getting used to BETA than the colleges running the classes! People who have been exposed intensively to other (especially OOP) languages sometimes have serious problems to switch over to BETA since BETA seems often to be a contradiction to what is deemed to be the OO mainstream: nested classes, no difference between class and procedure, virtual classes ... (Except people with a SIMULA background. Most concepts are already in SIMULA so BETA appears to them a straightforward continuation of SIMULA.) A typical question: How can it be that a class is executed? (A nuisance according to 'mainstream' OO.) Most other OO languages present a very simple and appealing view of the world at first glance: two levels only -- classes and within procedures/methods, a flat global name space, simple scope rules ... - that's it. The problems come later when trying to implement *real* programs because the world isn't that simple! Regards, Wilfried Rupflin *---------------------------------------------------------------* | Wilfried Rupflin | wr@irb.informatik.uni-dortmund.de | | | ___ | | Universitaet Dortmund | //// | | FB Informatik, IRB | UNI DO// | | Postfach 500 500 | Tel.: +49 231 755 2478 ___ //// | | D-44221 Dortmund 50 | Fax.: +49 231 755 2386 \*\\/// | | Germany | Telex: 822465 unido d \\\\/ | *---------------------------------------------------------------*