Event-driven programming is a narrow, over-emphasized slice of the software experience,
No, this is going too far. Event-driven, asynchronous programming is not limited to GUIs: it is instead a powerful, if a little invasive ;-) , concurrency model. Anyone who "got" Twisted ( http://twistedmatrix.com/ ) will never program the same way again. Drop those threads for good!
and is particular damaging to start a CS major off that way.
Concurrency is hard. What is damaging is the current preponderance of the broken threading model, so frequent in the Windows and Java worlds. A balanced presentation of the pro and cons of the different concurrency models - process-based, thread based and event-based - should be included in every intermediate level programming course. Not introductory stuff, for sure, but education nonetheless. :-) -- Nicola Larosa - nico@tekNico.net The computer, especially connected to the Internet, is the paradigm power tool of our age. The sin would be to bring up a generation of passive consumers who complain and whine because "it won't do what I want." The mark of a successful civilization is it gives its people power over its most powerful tools, and not vice versa. -- Kirby Urner, April 2005