What is a good first programming language?

Gupta, Diwaker

doi:10.1145/1027313.1027320

Cited by 30 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Until recently (mid 1990s), Pascal used to be the most widely adopted programming language [11] "for introductory computer science courses" [1]. According to [12], one of the principal advantages of Pascal is that it is a simple, small and concise language" specifically designed for teaching structured programming.…”

Section: The Rise and Fall Of Pascalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 1975, the creator of Pascal himself [15] described the some of the merits of the language "with respect to ease of programming, … efficient implementability" by means of the compiler and interpreter used for the so-called p-code, and easy, practical portability "to a large number of computer systems" [1]. The fact that Pascal and most of the development environments "came with a lot of support and documentation" [11] also made it popular among students.…”

Section: The Rise and Fall Of Pascalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[10] So, why is it necessary to pay so much attention to which programming language you start with? [11] The choice of an introductory programming language "is probably the most significant of" the "factors that will shape the competency of the next generation of computer users" [8]. Luker regards "the language used for CS1 and CS2 … as a crucial factor in students' subsequent progress in the discipline" [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Brief History of Choosing First Programming Languages

Goosen

2008

History of Computing and Education 3 (HCE3)

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Choosing the best computer language for introducing students to programming is often an emotional issue, leading to protracted debates for many years. This paper aims to document how the development of programming languages has influenced the educational processes of choosing an introductory language since the early days of computing, by exploring some of the "programming languages that have been selected over the last couple of decades and the rational for those selections". [1]

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Section: The Rise and Fall Of Pascalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Rise and Fall Of Pascalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Brief History of Choosing First Programming Languages

Goosen

2008

History of Computing and Education 3 (HCE3)

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“…Attempts have been made to measure the fit between Programming I course objectives and the programming language being used (Kolling 1999;Gupta 2004). This research involves generating a list of criteria then applying the criteria to various programming languages (Kolling 1995;Parker et al 2006;Mannila and de Raadt 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

BLAKE: A language designed for Programming I

Blake

2010

Educ Inf Technol

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The process of comprehending a problem, strategically developing a solution and translating the solution into an algorithm is arguably the single most important series of skills acquired during the education of an undergraduate computer science or information technology major. With this in mind, much care should be taken when choosing a programming language to deploy in the first University programming course. BLAKE, Beginners Language for Acquiring Key programming Essentials, is designed specifically for use in a Programming I class. BLAKE aids in enforcing fundamental object-oriented practices while simultaneously facilitating the transition to subsequent programming languages. BLAKE's major features include; consistent parameter passing, single inheritance, nonredundant control structures, a simple development environment, and hardware independent data types. The syntax remains relatively small while still facilitating a straightforward transition to industry standard programming languages.

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“…Direct comparisons of programming languages have been conducted: a comparison of Java with C [5]; a comparison of FORTRAN-77, C, Pascal and Modula-2 [13]. Others investigated suitability as a first programming language: Parker et al compiled a list of criteria for introductory programming courses at universities [20]; McIver proposed evaluating languages together with IDEs [16]; Hadjerrouit examined Java's suitability as a first programming language [11]; Clarke used questionnaires to evaluate a programming language [6]; Gupta discussed requirements of programming languages for beginners [10]. The methods and criteria proposed in the literature are usually hard to measure and are prone to be subjective.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

GoHotDraw

Schmager

Cameron

Noble

2010

Evaluation and Usability of Programming Languages and Tools

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Go, a new programming language backed by Google, has the potential for widespread use: it deserves an evaluation. Design patterns are records of idiomatic programming practice and inform programmers about good program design. In this study, we evaluate Go by implementing design patterns, and porting the "pattern-dense" drawing framework HotDraw into Go, producing GoHotDraw. We show how Go's language features affect the implementation of Design Patterns, identify some potential Go programming patterns, and demonstrate how studying design patterns can contribute to the evaluation of a programming language.

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What is a good first programming language?

Cited by 30 publications

References 8 publications

A Brief History of Choosing First Programming Languages

A Brief History of Choosing First Programming Languages

BLAKE: A language designed for Programming I

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