3 ms·

There is research in this area: "Contributing to success in an introductory computer science course: a study of twelve factors" : http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm

There is research in this area: "Contributing to success in an introductory computer science course: a study of twelve factors" : http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=364581 http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=364581 (note math background is positively correlated with success, language skills were not considered) "Language Factors in Mathematics Teaching and Learning" http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-009-1465-0_27 http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-009-1465-0_2... "The effect of student attributes on success in programming" http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=377467 http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=377467 -------- I think there is enough research to suggest that if language skill were critical, I think one of the surveys would have noticed it. If anything the math research suggests that cultural fit with the teacher is more important, so that foreign students are likely to have problems even if fluent in the teaching language, due to cultural differences. Research into Comp Sci has been going on decades becuase apparently its one of the hardest classes to teach effectively. With a high drop out rate worldwide, and a good chunk of students scrape a pass without it ever really clicking.

SilasX 12y ago
Explanation: math is rigorous, programming is rigorous, people good at rigor will be good at both. Nothing to do with the trigonometry and number theory knowledge being directly transferable, though practice with one could improve your rigor and carry over in that respect.
mamcx 12y ago
Naive question: "language skills were not considered".. this mean them not think in include it, or that it test for it but not see a correlation? "Research into Comp Sci has been going on decades becuase apparently its one of the hardest classes to teach effectively" This apply to math, rigth? So, if (as I experienced) programming in university is teach as math, and get the same bad results, them the solution is double-down in be more math-y? I learn programming in a tech school. Far more effective. In my experience with interview more than +100 developers, the people that go to university (and be their introductory at programing) do worse at programming than the people that don't.
thanatropism 12y ago
Ever seen people claiming there's no peer-reviewed evidence linking high BMI to adverse health outcomes? I gave it a second read, and it's written like a Tumblr social-justice screed. Hacker News is reading increasingly like Metafilter. Sad, this.

SilasX 12y ago

Explanation: math is rigorous, programming is rigorous, people good at rigor will be good at both. Nothing to do with the trigonometry and number theory knowledge being directly transferable, though practice with one could improve your rigor and carry over in that respect.

mamcx 12y ago

Naive question: "language skills were not considered".. this mean them not think in include it, or that it test for it but not see a correlation? "Research into Comp Sci has been going on decades becuase apparently its one of the hardest classes to teach effectively" This apply to math, rigth? So, if (as I experienced) programming in university is teach as math, and get the same bad results, them the solution is double-down in be more math-y? I learn programming in a tech school. Far more effective. In my experience with interview more than +100 developers, the people that go to university (and be their introductory at programing) do worse at programming than the people that don't.

thanatropism 12y ago

Ever seen people claiming there's no peer-reviewed evidence linking high BMI to adverse health outcomes? I gave it a second read, and it's written like a Tumblr social-justice screed. Hacker News is reading increasingly like Metafilter. Sad, this.