Good counterpoints. Perhaps it just depends on what you're trying to teach. If you're trying to teach students language-specific APIs, then you wouldn't want t

Good counterpoints. Perhaps it just depends on what you're trying to teach. If you're trying to teach students language-specific APIs, then you wouldn't want them to have auto-complete. If you're trying to teach students how to program in a language-agnostic way, then the APIs themselves don't matter as much as the theory behind them does. I agree with you on reading and understanding the docs. The problem with memorizing APIs, however, is that they change. Even the C++ standard library is at version 11 now. What is the value of memorizing something that will be deprecated in 2 years (or less)? Understanding it has much greater long-term value. At my college, I've talked to a lot of students who are reluctant to try new languages because they've become reliant upon the syntax and APIs of one particular language. If I challenge them to read some code in language X, they just respond with, "But I don't know language X"-- as if that were a valid excuse. Rather than being taught HOW something is done in a particular language, they should be taught WHY.