[GAP] RE: JEWL

[Anthony S Ruocco]

I have to agree with Robert.  There is a definite emphasis on 'fun' lately.  I got the feeling at the last SIGCSE that there is a competition over whose first-year coding scheme provided the most fun for the students.  As an instructor in a small faculty, trying to keep up with all the fun-things is worse than trying to keep up with a good lesson.

Tony Ruocco 

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Dewar [mailto:dewar at adacore.com] 
Sent: Sunday, May 01, 2005 7:53 PM
To: GNAT Academic Program discussion list
Subject: Re: [GAP] RE: JEWL

Riehle, Richard USA wrote:
> In an earlier message, as part of a discussion regarding
> approaches to teaching Ada, I mentioned that I find that
> my students enjoy writing Windows programs using JEWL.
> 
> Was that comment so outrageous that no one felt it was 
> worth comment?   Does no one else consider the concept
> of "fun" important when teaching and learning a programming
> language?

It's important, but I think you have to avoid the phenomenon
of people fiddling with graphics libraries etc instead of
learning how to program. I notice that Java courses tend to
be particularly prone to this disease.

There are many ways students can have fun, but let's not
forget that the primary purpose of courses is learning!

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