Gary,<br>Interesting site, ACSL.<br>Curious, there is no mention of specific languages or freedom of language the I find quickly on their site. The only hint is the list of languages given where solutions are given, Is that the actual list of restrictions?<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 9:22 AM, Litvin <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:litvin@skylit.com">litvin@skylit.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im">At 09:36 AM 1/25/2010, David MacQuigg wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I can't imagine teaching or testing CS without an actual language. A much better alternative would be to have the same test in multiple languages (perhaps with a "handicap" factor for the students choosing Python, so they don't have an embarrassing advantage :>).<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div>
Sure, for teaching you can use a particular language (or two). Testing is another matter. Currently AP free-response questions are not just "program this" or "program that" -- they are stated in a particular language, e.g., here is a class, implement this particular method. They also have a "case study," now in Java, and ask questions about it, e.g., to write a new method or to implement a new derived class. The questions never ask students to write a complete program. Then ETS brings together 80 or so teachers and college profs for a week each June to grade AP CS free-response questions. These readers would have to be polyglots. They use an elaborate rubric to grade a question, with partial credit given for every little bit remotely related to the right answer. Supporting multiple languages would cost the College Board and ETS a lot of money, and this is a relatively small exam (about 20,000 students).<br>
<br>
There are many programming competitions, of course, where they care only about the program's correct result, such as ACSL -- <a href="http://www.acsl.org/" target="_blank">http://www.acsl.org/</a>. That's where Python programmers have a great advantage. Unfortunately, few contestants use it now, because it is not widely taught in schools yet. Does a contest specifically for Python programmers exist? Is it feasible?<div class="im">
<br>
<br>
Gary Litvin<br>
<a href="http://www.skylit.com" target="_blank">www.skylit.com</a><br>
<br>
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