Use concurrent programming models to motivate teaching of programming languages

ABSTRACT

Undergraduate computer science students typically have only a limited understanding of their favorite languages and no inkling of other programming paradigms. Yet modern programmers typically work with several languages, and the availability of cheap concurrency is exposing fundamental problems in standard concurrent programming techniques (mutable objects and threads). This situation presents a great opportunity: by exploring nonstandard techniques for gaining intellectual control over concurrent programs, one can motivate and teach important semantic concepts (such as scoping) and important programming concepts (such as functional abstraction). Such a curriculum stimulates student interest in exploring new programming paradigms.

REFERENCES

• 1: Joe Armstrong , Robert Virding , Claes Wikström , Mike Williams, Concurrent programming in ERLANG (2nd ed.), Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd., Hertfordshire, UK, 1996
• 2: Daniel P. Friedman , Christopher T. Haynes , Mitchell Wand, Essentials of programming languages (2nd ed.), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 2001
• 3: Samuel N. Kamin, Programming languages: an interpreter-based approach, Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing Co., Inc., Boston, MA, 1990
• 4: Gary T. Leavens. Following the grammar. Technical Report CS-TR-07-10b, School of EECS, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816-2362, November 2007.
• 5: Bruce J. MacLennan, Principles of Programming Languages, Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1983
• 6: CORPORATE The Joint Task Force on Computing Curricula, Computing curricula 2001, Journal on Educational Resources in Computing (JERIC), v.1 n.3es, Fall 2001 [doi>10.1145/384274.384275]
• 7: Peter Van Roy , Seif Haridi, Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2004

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education

General Terms:
Languages

Keywords:
computational models, concepts, concurrency, paradigms, programming language curriculum, programming models