Re: map/filter/reduce/lambda opinions and background unscientific mini-survey

Up until a few years ago, I ran the computer science department at a
high-school. I provided support for the English teachers who taught
*all* students -- but they taught things like the use of a word
processor or the internet, and never covered the meaning of "lambda". I
taught a computer applications course which was taken by only small
fraction of the students (<10%) but there I taught things like the use
of photo-editing software, creating web sites, and the use of simple
databases; I never covered the meaning of "lambda". I also taught the
programming class (taken by only a dozen or so students per graduating
class) -- students learned basic concepts like variables, looping, up
through fancier bits like a couple different sorting algorithms. But I
didn't cover the meaning of "lambda". And I also taught the "AP"
computer course (taken by an average of just 4 students per year!), in
which I explained things like object oriented programming and recursion
and managed to get the students to the level where they could work
together as a group to write a moderately complex program, like a
simple video game. And I didn't teach the meaning of "lambda", nor was
it covered by the "AP" exam, which is supposed to be equivalent to a
single college-level course in computer programming.

So I'd say that it's a pretty obscure name that most people wouldn't
know.

And besides, "def" isn't a "magic" word... it's an abreviation for
"define"... I hope that any student who didn't understand a word as
common as "define" wouldn't have graduated from our school.

-- Michael Chermside

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Teaching programming (was: Java)
    ... > Do professors of civil engineering complain that students who built ... I would, however, have a prejudice against people who were taught ... 'computing' and programming in secondary schools. ...
    (comp.programming)
  • Re: IEE or IEEE
    ... >>assembly or used vi to modify a unix config ... > for programming real programs in assembly. ... > I have to say that the CS students complained very bitterly about having to do ... like you taught them... ...
    (comp.arch.embedded)
  • Re: map/filter/reduce/lambda opinions and background unscientific mini-survey
    ... I provided support for the English teachers who taught ... That's not computer science. ... > programming class (taken by only a dozen or so students per ...
    (comp.lang.python)
  • Re: Why I stop attacking HLA
    ... so I can implement it and see why HLL control structures make ... Language Programming" course is to teach them what things like "bits" ... all the students show up already knowing assembly language. ... > Facts are facts and are independent of any usability. ...
    (alt.lang.asm)
  • Re: Top 10 skills that schools should teach
    ... Let me do a Pietro and share a wonderful article on skills which should be ... I suggest schools should consider teaching the following skills: ... pace needs to be taught, together with the most appropriate posture, ... All students need to be taught to read body language, to sense mood, to ...
    (soc.culture.filipino)
Loading