[Edu-sig] K-16 CS/math hybrid

[Scott David Daniels]

Kirby Urner wrote:

> It's unfair to criticize quick and dirty code that pretends to be nothing
> more.  There's room in this world for one-off scripts that get the job done.
> We all write "code to throw away" or should.  Making everything you write
> read like some CS text book example is a waste of precious time.

While I know enough about Kirby to know I'm hitting a straw man here:
There is virtue in writing clear simple code even for one-off scripts.
It is the same virtue as that of spelling notes to yourself correctly;
practice improves your skills.

> What I'm wondering is how many CS curricula emphasize team approaches, e.g.
> teach extreme programming techniques, other ways to manage largish, scalable
> projects.  This should come earlier rather than later, so some appreciation
> for the conventions of teamwork start tickling in (e.g. why should I waste
> time documenting, writing a lot of test? -- because *you* aren't the only
> reader of this code, duh).
Actually, I think this is a flaw in many academic endeavors.  Grading
group efforts appropriately is harder than measuring individual effort.
We tend to fall too easily into a competitive model rather than a
cooperative one.  When I was at Penn, the Wharton School was unique in 
their (mostly successful) efforts to teach how to work effectively in
teams.

--Scott David Daniels
Scott.Daniels at Acm.Org