Re: "Python for Lisp Programmers"

[Curran Nachbar <address@hidden>]

Just in from a parallel universe:

> I spent some of the last term teaching C to undergrads, and 
> none of them had a problem with the semicolon after about the
> first two weeks.

Conceivable, if "real men code in Scheme" in that universe.


On Sun, 9 Dec 2001, Simon Cozens wrote:

> I'd get a new language. Furthermore, if the syntax of the language is as
> trivial as Scheme's, I'd get new students.

It seems unlikely that the only undergrads (or 40-yr-olds) worth teaching
Scheme are those who are already familiar with it, and haven't bought
into the "real men roll their own [gc | typechecking | pointer
arithmetic]" mentality.

I was told today by a senior, an Operating System TA, that "types are for
wussies". He was pretty serious. He's not a stupid guy; he's bought into a
lot of rhetoric that's floating around. Dismissing the students who could
use a heavy dose of <cough> education doesn't seem to do much for bridging
the gap between lighterweight language fans in academia and those who
drool over (void *).

cn


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  mnachbar@cs.brown.edu                401/867-5722
  mcfn@brown.edu
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