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Yeah exactly, I remember having to write Java and C++ by hand in college in the early 2000s. It was also a good test how well you knew the syntax.
by stingraycharles 6mo ago
Yeah exactly, I remember having to write Java and C++ by hand in college in the early 2000s. It was also a good test how well you knew the syntax.
- nradov 6mo agoSyntax seems like a stupid thing to test in university level courses. That's trade school stuff. And I don't mean that as a criticism of trade schools, they just have a different focus.
- tehjoker 6mo agoKnowledge is built on foundations. Knowing syntax in one language is necessary to be able to do anything practical, which interacts with theory. You build valuable schema of the world by iterative theory and practice.
- nradov 6mo agoNah. Syntax is trivial and irrelevant for teaching CS theory.
- robryan 6mo agoWould you say the same thing for teaching math or music?
- icelancer 6mo agoLambda calculus?!
- eudamoniac 6mo agoDo you think spelling is trivial and irrelevant in a foreign language class?
- WoodenChair 6mo agoSyntax is not the focus of your testing, but it’s often a pre-requisite to be clearly and accurately speaking the same language. Think not of taking off points for missing a semicolon but instead understanding the difference between the syntax for a method call and a property access. The different syntax conveys different meaning and so we should expect some basic level of accuracy to the language in question. At least that’s how I see it.
- hsbauauvhabzb 6mo agoMarking at scale is hard to maintain that consistency though. It’s not whether the exam writer sees it that way, it’s whether the markers understand intent and objective over pedantic nuance
- nradov 6mo agoOK I'll bite. What's the difference between a method call and a property access? And why would that matter for pedagogical purposes?
- lupire 6mo agoSyntax is a stupid thing to test in trade school. That's compiler stuff.
- raincole 6mo agoCollege exam tests C++ syntax and people frame it as a good thing. Interesting. It sounds almost indefensible for me. If it were Scheme perhaps it would be okay, but C++ and Java...
- mbf1 6mo agoWe are at a point in AI where colleges teaching computer science are having students hand write code. It is what it is. This is about academic honesty^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H integrity. In order to measure academic success we have to measure the person learning, not the machinery.