Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!ames!ptsfa!hoptoad!academ!killer!elg From: elg@killer.UUCP (Eric Green) Newsgroups: comp.edu Subject: Re: Resources and education Message-ID: <852@killer.UUCP> Date: Wed, 6-May-87 02:17:49 EDT Article-I.D.: killer.852 Posted: Wed May 6 02:17:49 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 10-May-87 11:44:55 EDT References: <1345@arthur.cs.purdue.edu> Organization: The Unix(tm) Connection, Dallas, Texas Lines: 42 Sorry about the high flammables content of my last posting... disdvantage of doing all my netreading/netposting after midnight (I tend to get a bit giddy around 2am :-). Points: 1) You are not going to teach a person how to think by denying him access to necessary resources. I believe this was one of the justifications used in the past for denial of computer resources to CS students: "If they have to scribble it down in pencil and paper and then type it onto punch cards, they'll have to think about the problem more." 2) Your typical teen-age hacker type can knock down quicksorts all day long without pausing for breath, much less having to think. Telling him to not run to the library isn't going to make any difference. You are not going to teach innovation or "how to think" in a lower level CS class. Many students will memorize solutions. The hacker folk don't need to memorize solutions. In any event, almost nobody will listen to a darn thing said in early "program design" or "data structures" or "structured programming" classes until they tackle their first real project.... something that they CAN'T look up in a book, and that all the memorization and parroting in the world won't help. And something where the hacker's hackerisms turn grotesque, unwieldy, and transparent. For example, if you really want to see a bunch of kids a'frenzied, tell them to write an EGREP program, and point them towards various books about discrete math, formal languages, and parsing. Next, ask them to explain what they've done, as formally as possible :-). You'll see'em doodling transition diagrams on the backs of napkins while they're eating for the next month. To be fair, though, that's really something for upperclassmen who'd have the necessary mathematical background... If a student types in a program out of a book, that's obviously "cheating". However, when used properly, a book can help a student understand the reasonings and principles behind a solution. Is not that understanding, a step toward the road of actually being able to independently develop such solutions? -- Eric Green elg%usl.CSNET CS student, University of SW Louisiana {cbosgd,ihnp4}!killer!elg Apprentice Haquer, Bayou Telecommunications Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191 BBS phone #: 318-984-3854 300/1200 baud Lafayette, LA 70509 I disclaim my existence, and yours, too.