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12 years of teaching full time Intro to Programming (and other courses) at community college has taught me this: No matter how good a student is at "computers"

12 years of teaching full time Intro to Programming (and other courses) at community college has taught me this: No matter how good a student is at "computers" doesn't matter. On day 1, I ask them to raise their hand if they are at the college math level (there is no pre-req to Intro to Programming here). I then ask them to raise their other hand if they have NOT studied a foreign language. I then say that those of you with both hands raised will find this class very challenging. Perhaps the hardest class you will have had so far. People ask "What is programming like?" My answer: it is like solving word problems in a foreign language.

burfog 8y ago
Taking math but not language is supposed to make CS harder? That is a terrible evaluation. A decent predictor is having enjoyed writing math proofs. Normally this starts in a geometry class, though sometimes a few proofs are done in beginner algebra classes. Many people hate proofs. A weaker predictor is having experience with a plain-text editor (not Word or GMail, but raw ASCII) and with filesystem directory trees. Foreign language is completely different. It's irregular. It involves making and hearing sounds.