Choosing Languages To Teach ProgrammingParadigms And Programming Styles
John M. Traxler · WIT transactions on information and communication technologies · 1970
The comparison of different programming paradigms, styles and languages is a common topic in undergraduate computing courses. This paper looks at some of the factors involved in choosing programming languages that will support the effective comparison of language design issues and of different programming paradigms. The paper is based on the experience of an undergraduate module in the computing programme at the University of Wolverhampton, Software Construction, run for final-year computer science and software engineering students at the University of Wolverhampton and draws on feedback from the students. The conclusion is that, even in examining only a small number of new programming paradigms, using only a handful of languages, an effective understanding and comparison of languages and paradigms is difficult to achieve. This is partly due to the different approach each language adopts to issues of general language design, partly due the effectiveness and purity with which a language will implement its chosen paradigm and partly due the relatively small number of working languages representing the possible this wealth of different parameters. Effective comparison is impossible because there are too few languages to systematically compare like with like. These difficulties are compounded, in teaching these ideas, by the fact the previous exposure and loyalties of the students to languages are often very varied and also usually heavily skewed by their first or working language. Students' perceptions of the industrial credibility and employment potential of languages also comes across as an important determinant of their receptiveness.