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Re: Free computer books

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On 11-10-07 09:38 PM, Lew wrote:
> Roedy Green wrote:
>> Lew wrote, quoted or indirectly quoted someone who said :
>>> The problem isn't its lack of coverage, the problem is the part that isn't "most of Java" 
>> will be wrong, misleading and conducive to bad programming in the
>> post-5 world.
>>
>> I think if you were teaching, you would do collections without
>> generics, then add the complication of the genericity.
>> So long as you don't STOP,
> 
> Well, not me personally.  You might be right about the generalized "you", but what you suggest is not consistent with my pedagogical style.
> 
>> Perhaps I should put some notes in the front of each book about what
>> is obsolete and incomplete.
> 
> I suppose it's better to put lipstick on a pig than to kiss its unadorned mouth.
> 
> I am seriously worried about the effect of out-of-date training materials on new programmers.  I've seen so much evidence that bad habits from early texts infect a programmer for years, even decades.  I really don't think pre-Java 5 texts do a new programmer any favors.
> 
[ SNIP ]

I personally have never had to teach a complete novice how to program.
So for all I know I might really suck at it. I suspect that while I
could probably muddle by, I just would not be a great teacher of
complete newbies. Having said that, I don't need to have any experience
teaching _anyone_, of any skill level, how to program, to recognize the
fact that obsolete materials are partially useless at best, and actively
misleading and wrong at worst.

So why would you want to use them?

For Java in particular, especially for teaching novices, what exactly is
wrong with the Java tutorial? Even if your Internet service is
practically nonexistent, and you are teaching in some shack in a Third
World village, you can somehow make arrangements to download the
tutorial bundle and burn it onto a CD. After all, you do at least have a
computer, right? One would hope - you're teaching programming.

Although I could be badly mistaken, I have a theory about programming
education in general. My gut feeling is that the natural programmers -
the ones with real aptitude - won't be significantly affected by the
quality of teaching materials. This discussion does not apply to them.
There is also a large mass of humanity (the majority) who will never get
programming at all, and many of them filter into early programming
education. Who really cares what texts are used with them? Ultimately
they are weeded out anyhow (or they churn out dreck, and will *always*
churn out dreck). It is really only the guy who ends up as your
average-quality (or mediocre) grunt coder, the guy who always needs some
help, who is truly affected by the quality of teaching materials.

As it happens those grunt coders form the backbone of our profession. It
doesn't come easy to them. They don't "see" code paths, and they do not
intuit solutions. They are software technicians, not software engineers.
And so they need and deserve updated, clear, accurate teaching material.
Not ancient stuff.

AHS
-- 
I tend to watch a little TV... Court TV, once in a while. Some of the
cases I get interested in.
-- O. J. Simpson

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Free computer books Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-10-05 13:15 -0700
  Re: Free computer books markspace <-@.> - 2011-10-05 15:26 -0700
    Re: Free computer books Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-10-05 23:37 -0700
      Re: Free computer books Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-10-06 06:37 -0700
        Re: Free computer books Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-10-07 11:00 -0700
          Re: Free computer books markspace <-@.> - 2011-10-07 11:37 -0700
          Re: Free computer books Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-10-07 17:38 -0700
            Re: Free computer books Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> - 2011-10-07 23:03 -0300
              Re: Free computer books Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-10-09 19:59 -0700
                Re: Free computer books Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> - 2011-10-10 14:06 -0300
                Re: Free computer books Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-10-10 11:11 -0700
            Re: Free computer books Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-10-15 18:12 -0700
      Re: Free computer books Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-10-10 14:37 -0400
        Re: Free computer books Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-10-10 15:17 -0400
  Re: Free computer books Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-10-10 15:54 -0400

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