I have an unproven opinion that the reason we as a country don't produce anything hardcore in terms of software is because we have been bred and brought up on the equivalent of Weetabix & Cerelac for programming (VB6, PHP) instead of the "hard" foods (i.e. C, C++, Java) other children programmers in other countries (like India, Russia, Brazil) are bred on.

Of course, there are exceptions to this, brilliant minds who teach themselves everything they need to know to produce hardcore software, but these are the exceptions, rather than the norm.

If there is a billionaire on this list reading this, why don't you donate some millions so that I can conduct a 10 year research on the effect of teaching a class 8 student C instead of Pascal?


On Mon, Mar 25, 2013 at 11:37 AM, Martin Chiteri <martin.chiteri@gmail.com> wrote:
On Mon, Mar 25, 2013 at 11:16 AM, Adam Nelson <adam@varud.com> wrote:
The same could be said for C.  What's the point in learning about memory management, etc.. when it's a niche problem that has been 'solved' in modern systems?

The answer is that memory management, etc.. hasn't been solved for low level systems (kernels and drivers) and that working in higher level languages like Python can benefit from knowing how internals work.

Nonetheless, people have a certain amount of time to dedicate to learning and that's a real issue.  Time spent in C is time that could have been spent on studying Philosophy, Literature, Science, History, and all the other critical fields of study necessary to grow a modern, liberal society.
 
@Adam,  

If I was designing the KCSE, I would certainly focus on Python for advanced students because it's a language that allows one to work on the widest range of problems, has a shallow learning curve, and is in real world use around the world.
 
I said something similar before and a good number of Skunks started moving towards my direction with pitchforks and torches. Tread carefully ..... :-D 

Martin.




On Mon, Mar 25, 2013 at 11:02 AM, Peter Karunyu <pkarunyu@gmail.com> wrote:
@Rad, I have zero experience in either Pascal or Python, and in my ignorance, I am wondering why anyone in their right mind would want to teach Pascal in this day and age...

If you really want to teach the basics of programming, why not do it in C? That way, you pre-condition the kids brain to better assimilate other C derivatives

Form 4: Beginner C
Year 1: Advanced C
Year 2: C++
Year 3: Java/Python/PHP/Ruby
Year 4: Contributing code to Linux Kernel
After graduation: Take over the world?




On Mon, Mar 25, 2013 at 9:16 AM, Areba Collins [ @BrainiacKE ® ] <arebacollins@gmail.com> wrote:
I was just responding to Areba.
same here bro, Mine was a statement of fact.... 


On Mon, Mar 25, 2013 at 9:14 AM, Rad! <conradakunga@gmail.com> wrote:
I was just responding to Areba.

As for whether it is currently examined I'm to sure but I know it used to be


On Monday, March 25, 2013, Okechukwu wrote:
@Rad! there is no one who has given a contrary opinion sir! we are just asking if its examined in KCSE

./Ok3ch

On Mon, Mar 25, 2013 at 8:56 AM, Rad! <conradakunga@gmail.com> wrote:
Pascal is actually a very good language to reach programming, data structures and algorithms.


On Monday, March 25, 2013, Areba Collins [ @BrainiacKE ® ] wrote:
LOL @okechukwu. 
Last i remember is doing pascal and fortran in college, I thought Microsoft had high schools doing something like VB???

On Mon, Mar 25, 2013 at 8:50 AM, Okechukwu <okechukwu@gmail.com> wrote:
Has Pascal ever been examined in KCSE?

./Ok3ch

On Mon, Mar 25, 2013 at 8:00 AM, Peter Karunyu <pkarunyu@gmail.com> wrote:
> They still do Pascal in KCSE?
>
>
> On Sat, Mar 23, 2013 at 1:47 PM, Peter Muchemi <pmuchemi@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Any trainer/teacher who is on the list and can assist or give leads where
>> I can get some kcse pascal & c++ past papers. I need to share them with my
>> mentee.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> --
>> Peter Muchemi
>> Software Developer
>> Electra Software Ltd
>> http://www.software.co.ke
>> +254 722 320986
>>
>>
>>
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