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Re: Mathematica and Lisp
Posted:
Jan 18, 2013 12:50 AM
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On Jan 17, 13, at 12:14 PM, Richard Fateman wrote:
> On 1/15/2013 10:39 PM, Murray Eisenberg wrote:
>> On Jan 14, 2013, at 11:31 PM, David Bailey <dave@removedbailey.co.uk.math.umass.edu> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> It all depends on just what you want somebody to accomplish when learning his/her first programming language.
>
> There are several issues here.
> For a starter, 4-year colleges generally do not offer credit for "a
> course to teach you to program in language X" in a department of
> computer science.
> There may be such courses in physics, statistics, etc departments,
> but this should be classified as a utility course, akin to "how to use
> the microwave oven in the lunchroom".
Was this analogy meant to be pejorative?
I teach such a course and receive current and a posteriori feedback on the benefits of learning to rapidly construct a model, compute it, and visualize it. Equally important, the students learn math and a means to acquire more math on their own---and quickly. I teach fundamental concepts of my discipline by using novice programming, numerical analysis, symbolic algebra: voila, canonical discipline knowledge and transferable skills in one course.
The "microwave usage" analogy diminishes the importance of an indispensable tool to an applied scientist or engineer.
I have physical science colleagues who consider programing and linear algebra to be superfluous because they use spreadsheet tools. I consider their myopic view marginally more perverse than (paraphrasing) `classifying computer language tools as microwave ovens for those who don't build microwaves or understand their operating principles'.
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