Re: Introducing CAS To Engineers

Jerzy Karczmarczuk wrote:
> 2. The language should, if possible, have a free implementation,
> together with a minimum of development tools. Pupils/students
> should be able to have at home the environment used in school
> at no cost.
> This precludes Maple a bit as well... But also Delphi, etc.,
> despite the fact that Pascal was once promoted a pedagogical
> champion... And also Matlab, although as a language it is OK.

Do you think a free implementation would get Mathematica much more widely
adopted?

> (Although physicists will now recommend "C", and sooner or later
> they will regret it, since programming in "C" for newbies is
> tiresome and boring, thus discouraging).

I hope that was sarcasm. I'm a physicist and I'm recommending Objective
CAML. :-)

> There were other attempts. Even Javascript and PHP have been used
> as first languages... I wouldn't dare...

I'd rather see students exposed to a variety of languages, firstly to show
that there is a variety of languages and then to study which kinds of
languages are good for solving what kinds of problems. Then I'd go into
detail with some general purpose (impure functional) language.

> Now, CAS languages...
> Mathematica is too specific, and commercial.

What do you mean by "too specific"?

> No, I think it is better to begin with universal languages. So, for
> the moment Python is a decent choice, less distant from other popular
> languages than Scheme (although less elegant...).

I'd go for something elegant and succinct. OCaml fits that bill very well.

> For the second language at my university the Dark Forces chose,
> <<horribile dictu>>, Java... Why? - well, objects, syntax similar
> to all them C++ or PHP, the market.

Yes, that is strangely popular here too. It was introduced after I did my
degrees and I've never bothered learning it though.

> In high school I wouldn't teach two different *languages*. But
> for those who *know* how to program, CAS, such as MuPAD (perhaps
> Axiom or Maxima?) as a tool used for math and physics would
> probably be useful and not too difficult.

Many physicists around here seem to use Fortran, OCaml and Mathematica.

--
Dr Jon D Harrop, Flying Frog Consultancy
http://www.ffconsultancy.com
.

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