On Sat, 18 Aug 2001, Jeffrey S. Sharp wrote:
> > Now, why is it so important to have a PRINT statement?
> > So that you may print "HELLO WORLD". It's essential for the newbie.
> Please bear with me. Does it have to be "HELLO WORLD" exactly, or could
> something different suffice?
In the classes that I teach, I have abandoned tradition! Heresy! I used
to get students copying each other's work for the "Hello, world"
assignment. So, ... Now I make them write a program to put their name on
the screen. I still get some people turning in other people's work!, but
not as many.
The FIRST assignment (and an important argument for why I would prefer to
have students START (at least a week) with BASIC), is NOT to deal with
important algorithms and data structures. It is entirely to deal with the
concept of "what is a program", and how to get the tools (editor, source
file, compiler, etc.) to work. The SECOND assignment can then get into
something that is more of a challenge.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin_at_xenosoft.com
Received on Sat Aug 18 2001 - 10:41:32 BST