Lambda the Ultimate

inactiveTopic How to approach?
started 7/30/2000; 3:57:58 AM - last post 7/31/2000; 5:52:05 AM
Ehud Lamm - How to approach?  blueArrow
7/30/2000; 3:57:58 AM (reads: 590, responses: 3)
How to approach?
Thinking on how to approach the teaching of programming languages, I came to the conclusion that I am interested in three points of view.

  1. Specifics of different languages/issues (parameter passing etc.)
  2. Paradigms (OOP/FP etc.)
  3. Implementation issues

Interestingly these are cousins of the three fileds of semiotics:

  1. Syntax
  2. Pragmatics (use)
  3. Semantics

How well are these three fileds incorporated into PL courses?
Posted to "" by Ehud Lamm on 7/30/00; 3:59:05 AM

andrew cooke - Re: How to approach?  blueArrow
7/30/2000; 12:21:38 PM (reads: 642, responses: 1)
Maybe I'm being pedantic, but I don't think the corespondence is that close, nor in that order. Really, I'm not sure how you separate specifics and paradigms - is lazy/eager a specific and functional a paradigm? Anyway, they both seem to correspond to semantics with implementation issues matching syntax and pragmatics (not sure what pragmatics means either - IDE?).

[Apologies if this seems hopelessly wrong - I'm not very good at being accurate with language. Incidentally, I find this is very different with most other programmers who seem (to me) to be very pedantic. Not sure what that says about them or me, except that I know I don't think in a "language" when programming (I'm pretty sure that I program at least partly subconsciously - does that sound reasonable?)]

Andrew

Ehud Lamm - Re: How to approach?  blueArrow
7/31/2000; 5:52:05 AM (reads: 669, responses: 0)
Interestingly enough, I just saw the Krishnamurthi & Felleisen enploy the same categorization as I quoted as coming from semiotics. It can be found in their Lecture notes on the Princicples of Programming Languages

Patrick Doyle - Unconscious programming  blueArrow
8/1/2000; 1:56:40 PM (reads: 707, responses: 0)
(Sorry this is off-topic, but I think it's kind of interesting...)

If it makes you feel better, I gave up the idea long ago that my programming was entirely conscious. Personally, I think it's mostly unconscious, because I am frequently surprised that some piece of code I wrote weeks or months ago works beautifully in a new context. I don't think I had ever consciously considered that new context, so I figure I must have considered it subconsciously.

I think programming is about 20% logical and 80% creative. Which is a good thing because I also think the human mind has about the same ratio.