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Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 10:40:31 +1000
Subject: Re: Homework help requested (not what you think!)
From: Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com>
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On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 8:43 AM, John Ladasky
<john_ladasky@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> I think that they're disappointed when I show them how much they have to understand just to write a program that plays Tic Tac Toe.


The disillusionment of every novice programmer, I think. It starts out
as "I want to learn programming and make a game". Real programming is
more like "I can automate mundane tasks", which doesn't sound half as
exciting. But this is why I'm dubious of programming courses that
actually try to hold onto the "let's make a game" concept, because the
students are likely to get a bit of a let-down on realizing that it
really doesn't work that easily ("this is a two-week course, at the
end of it I should have written the next <insert name of popular game>
for all my friends").

ChrisA