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Re: presentable Java features and programs

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On 4/6/2015 9:24 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 4/6/2015 9:20 PM, Eric Sosman wrote:
>> On 4/6/2015 6:50 PM, Stefan Ram wrote:
>>>    A Java course participant asked me near the start of the
>>>    beginner's course: »What can one do with Java? Could you
>>>    show me three Java programs?«.
>>
>>      "What can one do with Java?  Nothing that can't be done in some
>> other language.  I'll give you a referral to our COBOL professor, or
>> to a guidance counsellor if you'd like to change your major."
>>
>>      What can one do with a hammer?  One can build, or one can
>> destroy.  The building may be shoddy, and the destruction may be
>> incomplete -- these depend on the circumstances and on the talent
>> and application of the hammerer -- but basically, that's It.
>>
>>      In short: Silly question.  Something along the lines of "Why
>> Java as opposed to SNOBOL?" might have been more worthy, but ...
>
> Long time since you were a student?
>
> :-)
>
> It can be very motivating to show some examples of real
> world stuff instead of the traditional hello world
> examples.

     Yeah, well, okay.  BUT!!!  Why is this person taking your class
in the first place?  What motivated him to spend a beautiful sunny
Spring afternoon learning about generics instead of romancing another
(non-)student of the gender he prefers?  If the student is in your
class under duress, I sincerely doubt you'll seduce him with a load
of code he's not yet learned to read.

     It is rare that motivation can be impressed on someone from without,
and rarer still that such an "alien heat" turns out to be a Good Thing.

-- 
esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid
"Don't be afraid of work. Make work afraid of you." -- TLM

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Re: presentable Java features and programs Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-04-06 21:20 -0400
  Re: presentable Java features and programs Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2015-04-06 21:23 -0400
  Re: presentable Java features and programs Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-04-06 21:24 -0400
    Re: presentable Java features and programs Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-04-06 21:35 -0400
      Re: presentable Java features and programs Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2015-04-08 09:20 -0700
      Re: presentable Java features and programs Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-04-12 22:12 -0400
        Re: presentable Java features and programs Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-04-12 22:17 -0400

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