First Programming Course Opinions Please

[Bob Palank]

I'm building content for an U/G Intro to Programming course meant for a
User Support, Networking, and Software Development majors.
I intend to use about 5coding assignments that are to be coded in two
languages -
and the remaining assignments coded once in the students language of choice.
Languages are VB.Net and either VC++.Net or Java.
If Java, then I would tend to use Visual J# .net as the IDE instead of
NetBeans
(easier for the student ! And I know it's going away.)

Ques A. Would you, as an experienced developer prefer VB.Net and VC++.Net or
VB.Net and a look at Java.


Ques B. Would you use VJ#.Net - remember it is an intro course or introduce
Eclipse or Netbeans ?

TIA

 

[David Wilkinson]

I'm building content for an U/G Intro to Programming course meant for a
User Support, Networking, and Software Development majors.
I intend to use about 5coding assignments that are to be coded in two
languages -
and the remaining assignments coded once in the students language of choice.
Languages are VB.Net and either VC++.Net or Java.
If Java, then I would tend to use Visual J# .net as the IDE instead of
NetBeans
(easier for the student ! And I know it's going away.)

Ques A. Would you, as an experienced developer prefer VB.Net and VC++.Net or
VB.Net and a look at Java.


Ques B. Would you use VJ#.Net - remember it is an intro course or introduce
Eclipse or Netbeans ?

Bob:

Please stop re-asking the same question. Pay attention to the responses you get.

 

[Sheng Jiang[MVP]]

A Yes, but only for the libraries I want. There are some interesting
collection classes and utility classes in the J# runtime. For other tasks, I
tend to use C# or C++.
B No, J# has been retired. It is not wise to invest studying time in it.

 

[William DePalo [MVP VC++]]

I'm building content for an U/G Intro to Programming course meant for a
User Support, Networking, and Software Development majors.
I intend to use about 5coding assignments that are to be coded in two
languages -
and the remaining assignments coded once in the students language of
choice.
Languages are VB.Net and either VC++.Net or Java.
If Java, then I would tend to use Visual J# .net as the IDE instead of
NetBeans
(easier for the student ! And I know it's going away.)

Ques A. Would you, as an experienced developer prefer VB.Net and VC++.Net
or
VB.Net and a look at Java.

Why in the world teach VB.Net? Yes, it's true that all CLS compliant share
the same object model but C# is now, and will be in the future, the lingua
franca of the .Net platform.

If by VC++.Net you mean C++/CLI (the managed version of C++) then I would
skip that too because it's best used as a language to bridge the gap between
native and managed environments and that's a level of complexity that you
don't need in a first course. If, on the other hand, you mean native C or
C++ then that's not a bad choice especially if you explain how memory
allocation differs across the languages.

Ques B. Would you use VJ#.Net - remember it is an intro course or
introduce Eclipse or Netbeans ?

Given that Visual Studio 2008 does not offer VJ++ I wouldn't consider it.

Regards,
Will