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Introducing python into the first year curriculum at wits

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Published:26 June 2006Publication History
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Abstract

Since 1999 the School of Computer Science (CS) at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) has been using Scheme as the first programming language our students encounter [2]. We chose Scheme because it is a language unfamiliar to most of the first year students, so that the students with imperative programming experience from school would not have an advantage over those who did not. Also, it has a simple syntax which we felt that students without prior programming experience could easily learn. Finally, the functional paradigm allows a more direct mapping of mathematical concepts to programs, which fits with the mathematical emphasis in our curriculum.

References

  1. B. Kumwenda, S. Rauchas, and I. Sanders. The effect of prior programming experience in a Scheme-based breadth-first curriculum. Technical report, School of Computer Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2006.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  2. I. Sanders and C. Mueller. A fundamentals-based curriculum for first year computer science. Proceedings of the Thirty-first SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, 32(1):227--231, Mar. 2000. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library

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  1. Introducing python into the first year curriculum at wits

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          • Published in

            cover image ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
            ACM SIGCSE Bulletin  Volume 38, Issue 3
            September 2006
            367 pages
            ISSN:0097-8418
            DOI:10.1145/1140123
            Issue’s Table of Contents
            • cover image ACM Conferences
              ITICSE '06: Proceedings of the 11th annual SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
              June 2006
              390 pages
              ISBN:1595930558
              DOI:10.1145/1140124

            Copyright © 2006 ACM

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            Association for Computing Machinery

            New York, NY, United States

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            • Published: 26 June 2006

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