From: marcov@stack.nl   
      
   On 2006-12-18, keith.aquilina@gmail.com  wrote:   
   > I am a computer studies in Malta. Here in Malta Pascal is used in our   
   > schools as a teaching tool for programming due to its rigid structure   
   > and simple syntax.   
      
   Wise.   
      
   > Anyone wanna share resources or ideas with me?   
   > Many think that PAscal should be phased out and Java should be used   
   > instead. What do you think?   
      
   I did the same introductionary programming course with several languages   
   (pascal,C and Java), all of which I did while I already had programming   
   experience. (multiple studies are the reason for the repeated courses)   
      
   The pascal one was a decade earlier, and computer literacy was less, but the   
   C and Java courses were at about the same time, and not that long ago.   
      
   The strange discovery was that students thought the C course was easier.   
   This despite the fact that it contained more difficult abstract concepts   
   (datastructures mostly, double linked lists) than the Java one. (and Java   
   generally thought to be easier)   
      
   I tried to get to the bottom of this, and the bottom line turned out to be   
   that Java had a more complex library, language and IDE, and required way   
   more concepts to learn for initial programs, and even more for non trivial   
   ones.   
      
   Maybe it is better when a Java system specially targeted for educational   
   purposes are used, but about the last thing I'd do (the real last thing   
   probably being VB.NET or C#) is to use a commercial Java environment for   
   educational purposes.   
      
   The point is that for IT education, the environment matters as much as the   
   language. It is also easier to learn a second language after a year, than   
   learn a complicated language (requiring a lot of concepts and syntax)   
   directly.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)