A debate on teaching computing science
Peter J. Denning · Communications of the ACM · 1989
Edsger Dijkstra gave an invited talk A called "On the Cruelty of Really Teaching Computing Science."He challenged some of the basic assumptions on which our curricula are based and provoked a lot of discussion.The editors of Comwunications received several recommendations to publish his talk in these pages.His comments brought into the foreground some of the background of controversy that surrounds the issue of what belongs in the core of a computer science curriculum.To give full airing to the controversy, we invited Dijkstra to engage in a debate with selected colleagues, each of whom would contribute a short critique of his position, with Dijkstra himself making a closing statement.He graciously accepted this offer.We invited people from a variety of specialties, backgrounds, and interpretations to provide their comments.David Parnas is a noted software engineer who was outspoken in his criticism of the proposed Strategic Defense Initiative.William Scherlis is known for his articulate advocacy of formal methods in computer science.M. H. van Emden is known for his contributions in programming languages and philosophical insights into science.Jacques Cohen is known for his work with programming languages and logic programming and is a member of the Editorial Panel of this magazine.Richard Hamming received the Turing Award in 1968 and is well known for his work in communications and coding theory.Richard M. Karp received the Turing Award in 1985 and is known for his contributions in the design of algorithms.Terry Winograd is well known for his early work in artificial intelligence and recent work in the principles of design.