From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.1.3 (2006-06-01) on yquem.inria.fr X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.0 required=5.0 tests=AWL autolearn=disabled version=3.1.3 X-Original-To: caml-list@yquem.inria.fr Delivered-To: caml-list@yquem.inria.fr Received: from mail4-relais-sop.national.inria.fr (mail4-relais-sop.national.inria.fr [192.134.164.105]) by yquem.inria.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id 15A75BC6B for ; Thu, 25 Oct 2007 01:10:50 +0200 (CEST) X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: Ao8CAC5tH0fUnw6Gnmdsb2JhbACCOIwjAgEBBwQGERg X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.21,326,1188770400"; d="scan'208";a="18576906" Received: from pih-relay08.plus.net ([212.159.14.134]) by mail4-smtp-sop.national.inria.fr with ESMTP; 25 Oct 2007 01:10:50 +0200 Received: from [80.229.56.224] (helo=beast.local) by pih-relay08.plus.net with esmtp (Exim) id 1IkpNA-00026x-T6 for caml-list@yquem.inria.fr; Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:10:49 +0100 From: Jon Harrop Organization: Flying Frog Consultancy Ltd. To: caml-list@yquem.inria.fr Subject: Re: [Caml-list] Which syntax to teach ? Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:02:57 +0100 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.7 References: <1193225773.3612.27.camel@Blefuscu> In-Reply-To: <1193225773.3612.27.camel@Blefuscu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-15" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200710250002.58587.jon@ffconsultancy.com> X-Spam: no; 0.00; syntax:01 ocaml:01 syntax:01 command-line:01 ocamlc:01 vastly:01 solver:01 frog:98 wrote:01 clearer:01 caml-list:01 functions:01 motivation:02 revised:02 gui:03 On Wednesday 24 October 2007 12:36:13 David Teller wrote: > Hello list, > > In a few months, I'll start teaching OCaml for the second consecutive > year. I'll solve a number of my problems by installing Linux on the > workstations, although I'm pretty sure that will cause no end of > complaints from the students when they need to continue their work at > home. They could use FTP and a remote shell to access your Linux box from their Windows box. > Right now, however, that's not the issue. I'm just wondering if I > should prepare my lectures and exercises using the Original syntax or > the Revised syntax. The latest looks clearer and possibly easier to > teach but requires additional command-line arguments to ocamlc and I'm > not sure I'll be able to find an editor that will display that syntax > nicely. > > Any suggestions or experiences ? I would suggest the ordinary syntax simply because it is vastly more common. I'd also suggest giving them some working programs at the beginning of the course (e.g. the ray tracer and the GUI sudoku solver) and telling them that they'll be able to understand them by the end of the course. I found this kind of motivation sorely lacking on many of my courses (e.g. Greens functions). -- Dr Jon D Harrop, Flying Frog Consultancy Ltd. http://www.ffconsultancy.com/products/?e