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> In general I think starting from nothing is the original sin of programming pedagogy I think you're right in saying that. Back when I was in school, I learnt
by sriku 6y ago
> In general I think starting from nothing is the original sin of programming pedagogy
I think you're right in saying that. Back when I was in school, I learnt a lot by copying BASIC programs from mags and typing them in and then modifying them. I don't think I even acknowledge that early stage much now given that learning strategies have evolved from there.
edit: Thinking back to that, it seems to me that one of the attractive aspects of BASIC for interactive programming was line numbers. You could replace any line by typing a fresh line with the target line number instead of going back to edit the program. There's something innocent and simple about that.
- jrumbut 6y agoI know this is naive but I have a lot of hope for Racket in this space. I'm just hoping it gets more institutional support for making educational tools with it. The line numbers definitely help you imagine the computer mechanically reading and executing the lines. I wasn't taught with BASIC so in the few times I've had to modify a program with meaningful line numbers I have often used make or similar to just put them in for me. I'm glad someone likes them, I never understood why they existed!
- ywei3410 6y agoRacket is a fantastic language! If I may ask, what are you looking for? In your previous comment you alluded to live-reloading and graphics; both of which are possible but a little clunky at the moment.
- jrumbut 6y agoThe features are certainly there in Racket, clunky or otherwise! Plus this seems to be in the spirit of the language. I think what's left is building it more or less. Also structuring the code for education. For instance keeping the complicated, scary code out of files that will be modified early.
- sriku 6y agoYes I share that hunch too and been trying it with the kids off and on. The team's work with Bootstrap (https://www.bootstrapworld.org https://www.bootstrapworld.org) is actually pretty awesome .. where they're trying to accommodate even kids who may not have access to a computer. One of the best CS educational efforts I've come across. Check out racketcon2020 ( https://con.racket-lang.org/ https://con.racket-lang.org/) where Kathi Fisler (co-founder of Bootstrapworld) is keynoting on "data centric computing".
- jrumbut 6y agoWell there you go, I think I have an idea and someone is 10 steps ahead of me! Glad to see it!