__/ [ Martha Adams ] on Saturday 31 March 2007 13:45 \__
> I think the best level to start children at would be assembler
> programming, using a command line shell. The ITS that I used
> years ago would be good for this. (ITS: MIT, Incompatible
> Timesharing System.) Children could quickly see the connection
> in the machine's workings between what they typed into it and
> the machine's actions; and so they would become much better
> users as adults than do those who use a stuffy and opaque sort-
> of operating system like Windows.
I agree with you on that one. People understand the underlying principles of
computing this way, yet it doesn't involve anything that's overly complex.
The biggest sin is teaching CS students nothing but Java, or another
higher-level programming language. Misunderstandings and misconceptions
leads to programming that results in security holes, poor performance
(efficiency), and lack of maintainability. The perils of each of this are
only realised some time down the line... when it's too late or laborious to
fix. In some cases, training is needed as well. The other day I saw a course
for .Net and PHP/Java programmers... one that's intended to give them a feel
for /secure/ programming.
--
~~ Best wishes
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