Do Non‐Computer Science Students Need to Program?*

Abstract

Should non‐CS majors learn to program? While the 1999 National Academy of Sciences report “Being Fluent with Information Technology”1 advocates teaching programming as part of the CS‐0 experience, we challenge the assumptions upon which this recommendation rests. Our extensive review of the NECC and SIGCSE conference proceedings from 1979 to 1998 clearly shows a decline in the number of articles in which programming is taught in CS‐0 courses. Furthermore, based upon learning theory literature, we argue that conceptual understanding of computing can be acquired without learning to program. Finally, we describe our criterion‐referenced, mastery‐model course that currently enrolls approximately 2000 students per semester for a computing future that is constantly changing. Interpretation of the loadings of the discriminant analysis functions provides evidence that the students are developing conceptual understanding, rather than simply acquiring discrete skills.

Multi Section Freshman Classes With Labs: Lecture As Intro Vs. Lecture As Wrap Up

“…For freshman, GPA data is either not available at all, or is based on just one term of class work. As reported in [6], ACT results correlate to a freshman level, high enrollment computer literacy course at only about the 0.5 level. Hence university GPA and ACT scores were ruled out as external measures that could be used to partition our data, and we performed the analysis reported above based on internal partitioning.…”

Evolution Of Freshman Software Tools Class

“…Faculty also noted that the programming instruction was not having any noticeable effect on the development of logical thinking or problem solving. This is also not a novel observation and has been discussed at length by Urban-Lurain and Weinshank (3) . However, recognition of this fact removed a primary rationale for the programming course.…”

A New Paradigm To Improve Computer Education For Engineering Students: Applying Industry Based Software Development Cycle Into Programming Practices

“…Computer programming is an essential and integral part of any engineering program 1 . Engineering students must be able to use a variety of rapidly changing computing systems and tools to solve an ever-expanding range of problems across disciplines 2 . Engineering schools offer the computer programming course in freshmen or semaphore year in engineering or engineering technology program 3,4 .…”