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January 08, 2008, 11:33 AM ET
Ex-Professors Urge Return to Basics in Computer Science
Two former computer-science professors from New York University say education in their field is failing to teach basic skills.
In an essay from The Journal of Defense Software Engineering, Robert B.K. Dewar and Edmond Schonberg, who are now in private industry, point to shrinking math requirements and “cookbook” approaches to programming that lead to a future of insufficiently trained professionals.
In particular, they mention the introduction of Java as students’ first programming language:
“What we observed at New York University is that the Java programming courses did not prepare our students for the first course in systems, much less for more advanced ones,” they write. The Java courses, they explain, teach the use of libraries and frameworks instead of important underlying processes.
They call for computer-science programs to teach a broader range of languages, giving students a better understanding of the programming process. —Hurley Goodall
Categories: Teaching
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