The largest problem with teaching object oriented programming to first year students seems to be that some students have to unlearn what they already know. I came into 15 with a solid background in procedural programming, and it was hard to think a bout polymorphism, inheritance, and abstraction when I really wanted to make procedures and functions to do the work. The idea of showing what OOP can do right up front was key. If I had to go through the semester hearing "just wait and see…" I would have been disappointed with the course and objected oriented program.

The problem still exists, however, about how people with previous experience can incorporate it into cs015. Perhaps split sections, or placement tests could divide the class. I think that not seeing any syntax until after all the concepts ha ve been taught is both good and bad. For someone who has never coded before, it makes the course much less intimidating. It also makes it much easier; not having to worry about how to add and subtract when trying to learn complex ideas is a blessing. On t he other hand, for the people coming into the class with programming experience, it was frustrating. I wanted to know how to do things in Java; it was annoying to not know what was going on. Perhaps it was for my own good, but I quickly became very intere sted in what was going on behind the scenes, instead of focusing on the concepts at hand.

For all my hatred of being told about magic, GP was great. Doing graphically based programs made the course much more interesting with the exception of the program on data structures. While many people complain about wanting to know what GP i s doing (me included), understanding how to use libraries is also very important. Most developers rely on them heavily, and the magic behind GP can be learned later without causing much of a problem.

Overall, cs015 did a great job of not only teaching OOP but showing why it’s useful. For those with programming experience, it was sometimes frustrating not to be able to apply what you knew; but since it also targets people with no programmin g experience, it did a good job of teaching both groups. The only other tool that would have been really useful would have been a textbook to refer to, although not having reading assignments was nice.

MBA

This brings up the interesting point of tracking. Should we separate students who have had experience from students who have no experience. Are the students with experience better off than those without? Could they get more out of a faster-paced different style course? Something that maybe we want to look at from an educational point of view, not just 15.

Saul's insights

I'd like to discuss tracking in person. I have many beeves with it.