On the importance of teaching PASCAL in the IS curriculum
Susan M. Merritt · 1980
This paper asserts that it will become increasingly necessary for persons involved in the software development process to be concerned with creating high quality programs.Furthermore, it is asserted that the presence or absence of certain features in programming languages can affect the quality of programs produced.A survey of language design features which characterize some "modern" languages -languages which have been created for the design and implementation of reliable software -is given.These features include abstraction, name protection, strong typing, structure and ease of verification.Remarks are made concerning how these features support high quality programs.Each of these features is shown to be either a part of PASCAL or to have its immediate history in PASCAL.Since PASCAL is a widely available and well designed language it is suggested that PASCAL provides a unique language environment in which these features which support high quality program construction can be learned.Finally, it is remarked that it is not yet clear which programming languages will dominate our language culture of the future.However it is reasonable to expect that reliable software will be a priority, that the connections between good programs and language features will continue to be made, and that language features will develop along the lines presented here.Information Systems graduates will be in systems development and management roles.It is important that they be articulate with the issues.