Re: [9fans] Re: the 'science' in computer scienscience

[presotto@plan9.bell-labs.com]

> Anyway, how do you teach someone to think?  I have no idea; your
> suggestions are a good first step, but it seems that the `proper mind
> set' outcome is a side effect of exposure with that method; is there a
> way to directly target the thought process?

It was imbred in me by a Latin teacher whose key phrase was
``why use two when one will do''.  The immediate application
was to avoid flowery language but it the rule applies in general.

With programming, constraints that helped.  I inherited
a course at Princeton from Rob.  The thing I liked the best about
it was an assignment he gave to write a shell.  The constraint was
in the size of the shell.  We said what it was supposed to do (no
job control) and took points off for programs exceeding the size
limits.  I reviewed the best solutions with the students.

But when it comes down to it, the real challenge is imparting some
flavor of your taste to the students by example or by the application
of grades.  Some rules help, as long as you can get them to understand
that the rules are guidelines and not hard.  If you're lucky you can
do it in such a way that doesn't cramp originality on their part.

I've also found it useful to review Plan 9 code and Unix code with
them.  That way they can see different solutions for the same
problems.  I actually find things like the toy operating system
more harmful than helpful.  They come away understanding some of
the concepts, perhaps better than reading them in a book, but
totally lose the perspective of the size of the problems and
the necessity to be careful with minutia.

All this is very interaction intensive.  It's easy if you're a hired
gun doing one course and then running back to your real life.  I
couldn't imagine keeping it up semester after semester.