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I feel like a lot of people misread the article. It doesn't say you shouldn't use and IDE to teach students. It says you should avoid professional IDEs and at

by cerved 5y ago

I feel like a lot of people misread the article. It doesn't say you shouldn't use and IDE to teach students. It says you should avoid professional IDEs and at some later point you shouldn't neglect teaching them about other things like compilers and files. At some point they should have an understanding of how some of the underlying mechanics that a professional IDE abstract away. Also it's about teaching adults at University, not kids

eitland 5y ago
When one teach driving, do one start with the ignition system and the gas pump or do one start with the high level controls and how to behave in traffic? Do one (ideally) start in a new, safe car or in an old one with unsyncronized stick shift (the ones where you need to match the engine RPM before the gear lever will enter). Because that, in my eyes, is how programming is taught many places. Edit: What is the result of all this? It takes longer time to grasp the easy parts and the parts that fuel motivation. People drop out. What if we instead taught students using proper tools (e.g. non nerfed versions of Eclipse, IntelliJ or NetBeans for Java) and then used the time we saved in the beginning to dive deeper and deeper towards the end of the course?
- cerved 5y ago
  The emphasis was on professional. The article suggests using a simpler IDE. You don't learn to drive in a formula 1 car
  - Kwpolska 5y ago
    I don’t learn to drive in a Formula 1 car, and I don’t drive a Formula 1 car with my driver’s license. I drive a regular car that’s quite similar to the vehicle I learned to drive in. As do the virtually all drivers. So if we go with the assumption that university is meant to prepare for a job in the industry, and that industry uses “professional” IDEs in 99% of the circumstances, then university shuold use IDEA and Eclipse too.
    - cerved 5y ago
      It's a hyperbole. Virtually everything is designed such that there are different versions for people if different skills. Golf clubs, bikes, skiis, you name it. University is about education. Learning about computer science concepts, not churn out Java eclipse programmers. There's no reason to use a tool designed to do work on an enterprise codebase to teach the concepts behind a linked list.

by cerved 5y ago

eitland 5y ago

When one teach driving, do one start with the ignition system and the gas pump or do one start with the high level controls and how to behave in traffic? Do one (ideally) start in a new, safe car or in an old one with unsyncronized stick shift (the ones where you need to match the engine RPM before the gear lever will enter). Because that, in my eyes, is how programming is taught many places. Edit: What is the result of all this? It takes longer time to grasp the easy parts and the parts that fuel motivation. People drop out. What if we instead taught students using proper tools (e.g. non nerfed versions of Eclipse, IntelliJ or NetBeans for Java) and then used the time we saved in the beginning to dive deeper and deeper towards the end of the course?

cerved 5y ago
The emphasis was on professional. The article suggests using a simpler IDE. You don't learn to drive in a formula 1 car
- Kwpolska 5y ago
  I don’t learn to drive in a Formula 1 car, and I don’t drive a Formula 1 car with my driver’s license. I drive a regular car that’s quite similar to the vehicle I learned to drive in. As do the virtually all drivers. So if we go with the assumption that university is meant to prepare for a job in the industry, and that industry uses “professional” IDEs in 99% of the circumstances, then university shuold use IDEA and Eclipse too.
  - cerved 5y ago
    It's a hyperbole. Virtually everything is designed such that there are different versions for people if different skills. Golf clubs, bikes, skiis, you name it. University is about education. Learning about computer science concepts, not churn out Java eclipse programmers. There's no reason to use a tool designed to do work on an enterprise codebase to teach the concepts behind a linked list.