Undergrads avoid OOP

[Joakim G.]

"Their ability to understand processes in terms of collaborations
 of behavioural units is much more primitive."

Can it be true? :-)

/Jocke

Joakim G. wrote:

> Interesting thread on comp.lang.java.programmer:
>
> On Fri, 7 Feb 2003 15:33:08 -0000, "Graham Perkins"
> <gperkins@REDACTED> wrote:
>
>>> I've been teaching Computing undergraduates for twenty years.
>>> I can assure you that their early abilities at understanding tasks
>>> in terms of sub-tasks are picked up extremely quickly, perhaps
>>> partially built-in to their cognitive abilities, and easy to extend.
>>>
>>> Their ability to understand processes in terms of collaborations
>>> of behavioural units is much more primitive.  Many of them never
>>> get it.  Almost *all** undergrad students avoid OOP in their
>>> final year projects.
>>
>>  
>>
>
> Now that, is interesting.
>
>
>>>>>> > You are claiming OOP has an advantage over other styles of
>>>>>> > programming because it is supposedly easier to learn...
>>>>>
>>>>     
>>>
>>>
>>  
>>
>>>>> I didn't intend to make that claim.  I claim that object oriented 
>>>>> modeling
>>>>> draws upon natural cognitive strengths evolved for predicting social
>>>>> interactions.
>>>>
>>>   
>>>
>>> You are trying to make an intellectual argument for that claim.
>>> I'm telling you the hard facts: the students simply cannot do it.
>>
>>  
>>
>
> Suddenly I want to study this in depth. 
> Have you confirmed this with instructors at other schools?  Heck, have
> you confirmed it with other instructors at your same school?  Is there
> something about the way your institution teaches OOP that makes it
> seem harder than ordinary Java programming?  If this is a real
> phenomenon, how is it students graduate and then are "forced" to do
> OOP in so many situations? 
> What *is** their favorite choice of tool for final year projects?
>
> Joshua Stern
>
>