What analogies/metaphors/similes do you use when teaching CS concepts? (abstract only)
William John Pulling · 2014
Teaching by analogy or simile is a strategy many of us employ when we try to explain fundamental CS concepts. One popular analogy for explaining the difference between a class and an object is that the class is the "blueprint" and the object is the "house" that gets built from the blueprint. Others describe the class as the "cookie cutter" and the object is the "cookie". Another example is that an indeterminate loop is like a person hammering a nail into a board. We know that the loop will end when the nail is flush with the board. However, we are not sure how many strokes or iterations the loop will take, as it depends on who is doing the hammering, the length of the nail, etc. This BOF will encourage attendees to describe analogies, metaphors, and similes they use in the classroom to help illustrate different concepts in programming, or in other areas such as database or networking fundamentals. Discussion will also include "analogies that seemed like a good idea at the time" but did not work out as well as had been hoped.