Comments on: Kicking their butts http://imprompt.us/2009/kicking-their-butts/ Computer Science and Teaching and Other Ancillary Things Sat, 24 Jul 2010 12:23:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: lindseykuper http://imprompt.us/2009/kicking-their-butts/comment-page-1/#comment-16735 lindseykuper Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:37:43 +0000 http://imprompt.us/2009/kicking-their-butts/#comment-16735 Oh, man, Sorting Out Sorting. Has there ever been a version of it that <em>hasn't</em> had mediocre audio? They made us watch that thing in undergrad, and we probably would have benefited from it had we not been unable to get over the fact that we were being made to watch such an ancient, low-quality video. Oh, man, Sorting Out Sorting. Has there ever been a version of it that hasn't had mediocre audio? They made us watch that thing in undergrad, and we probably would have benefited from it had we not been unable to get over the fact that we were being made to watch such an ancient, low-quality video.

]]> By: Peter Boothe http://imprompt.us/2009/kicking-their-butts/comment-page-1/#comment-16730 Peter Boothe Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:43:07 +0000 http://imprompt.us/2009/kicking-their-butts/#comment-16730 I have talked at least a few times about growing a program rather than writing it all at once. And then I have shown how I have grown my own solutions to things. But people want to write it all down and then be done, they don't want to write down a half working thing, and then modify it a bit to be slightly better, and then modify it again, etc. Before you have come to understand that it's the ONLY way to build something, it is a natural tendency to think of your inability to just up and write down the answer as an intrinsic personal fault rather than a property of the problem.<br><br>This problem is more acute the younger the students are, which means that it is at its worst with first-years in CS1, which are the butts I kicked. I have talked at least a few times about growing a program rather than writing it all at once. And then I have shown how I have grown my own solutions to things. But people want to write it all down and then be done, they don't want to write down a half working thing, and then modify it a bit to be slightly better, and then modify it again, etc. Before you have come to understand that it's the ONLY way to build something, it is a natural tendency to think of your inability to just up and write down the answer as an intrinsic personal fault rather than a property of the problem.

This problem is more acute the younger the students are, which means that it is at its worst with first-years in CS1, which are the butts I kicked.

]]> By: Paul Berry http://imprompt.us/2009/kicking-their-butts/comment-page-1/#comment-16729 Paul Berry Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:18:10 +0000 http://imprompt.us/2009/kicking-their-butts/#comment-16729 I wonder if you could follow up this assignment with a lecture about divide-and-conquer techniques, or incremental development, to help people understand how to split up a big program into manageable chunks and then put the chunks together. I wonder if you could follow up this assignment with a lecture about divide-and-conquer techniques, or incremental development, to help people understand how to split up a big program into manageable chunks and then put the chunks together.

]]> By: Mike http://imprompt.us/2009/kicking-their-butts/comment-page-1/#comment-16728 Mike Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:48:03 +0000 http://imprompt.us/2009/kicking-their-butts/#comment-16728 I definitely got destroyed by this assignment when I took CS5 at Mudd. Glad to see I'm not alone. I definitely got destroyed by this assignment when I took CS5 at Mudd. Glad to see I'm not alone.

]]> By: Peter Boothe http://imprompt.us/2009/kicking-their-butts/comment-page-1/#comment-16727 Peter Boothe Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:03:22 +0000 http://imprompt.us/2009/kicking-their-butts/#comment-16727 CS1 is the computer-science-teaching term for the first class in computer science. At Mudd it was CS5/6, at Oregon it is CIS110, and at Manhattan it is CMPT101, but it's still all just CS1 if you are trying to explain it to others. CS1 is the computer-science-teaching term for the first class in computer science. At Mudd it was CS5/6, at Oregon it is CIS110, and at Manhattan it is CMPT101, but it's still all just CS1 if you are trying to explain it to others.

]]> By: Cj http://imprompt.us/2009/kicking-their-butts/comment-page-1/#comment-16726 Cj Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:58:57 +0000 http://imprompt.us/2009/kicking-their-butts/#comment-16726 Is CS 1 the first class for undergraduates? Nomenclature for classes at different universities can be confusing. I figure this is a pretty basic class, how have the students been doing until now (when you decided to crush them! :) Is CS 1 the first class for undergraduates? Nomenclature for classes at different universities can be confusing. I figure this is a pretty basic class, how have the students been doing until now (when you decided to crush them! :)

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