[Tutor] It's all about presentation

[bob gailer]

Wayne Watson wrote:
> ...

> I started with what I might call a (well-known) bloated book on the 
> subject, it took until chapter 3 for the author to say anything about 
> running programs. The first programming job I had found me staring at 
> a government issued 200 page manual printed in capitals on a then 
> popular language. What a huge bore. It's a wonder that I continued, or 
> anyone, for that matter. I guess the right start matters, or in the 
> words of the hero in Schindler's List (movie), "It's all about 
> presentation."  
In the 80's I taught computer classes at the Boeing Company in Seattle. 
On several occasions I was given handouts similar to that. One example 
was a Fortran course that spent the first morning on writing 
expressions. I imagined students wanting some context for this topic. At 
the first opportunity I wrote a new handout; the first topic was a 
program to read 2 numbers, add them and print the sum. (In that era 
programs were run in batch mode on a HP3000. The students edited the 
program at their terminals, submitted them, waited a few minutes then 
received listings from the printer down the hall. We did eventually 
cover expressions.

-- 
Bob Gailer
Chapel Hill NC
919-636-4239