TY - JOUR
T1 - Educational pearl
T2 - The risks and benefits of teaching purely functional programming in first year
AU - Chakravarty, Manuel M.T.
AU - Keller, Gabriele
PY - 2004/1/1
Y1 - 2004/1/1
N2 - We argue that teaching purely functional programming as such in freshman courses is detrimental to both the curriculum as well as to promoting the paradigm. Instead, we need to focus on the more general aims of teaching elementary techniques of programming and essential concepts of computing. We support this viewpoint with experience gained during several semesters of teaching large first-year classes (up to 600 students) in Haskell. These classes consisted of computer science students as well as students from other disciplines. We have systematically gathered student feedback by conducting surveys after each semester. This article contributes an approach to the use of modern functional languages in first year courses and, based on this, advocates the use of functional languages in this setting.
AB - We argue that teaching purely functional programming as such in freshman courses is detrimental to both the curriculum as well as to promoting the paradigm. Instead, we need to focus on the more general aims of teaching elementary techniques of programming and essential concepts of computing. We support this viewpoint with experience gained during several semesters of teaching large first-year classes (up to 600 students) in Haskell. These classes consisted of computer science students as well as students from other disciplines. We have systematically gathered student feedback by conducting surveys after each semester. This article contributes an approach to the use of modern functional languages in first year courses and, based on this, advocates the use of functional languages in this setting.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/0842289666
U2 - 10.1017/S0956796803004805
DO - 10.1017/S0956796803004805
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:0842289666
SN - 0956-7968
VL - 14
SP - 113
EP - 123
JO - Journal of Functional Programming
JF - Journal of Functional Programming
IS - 1
ER -