davee@hpcll14.HP.COM (Dave Elliott) (09/14/89)
Is anyone aware of any studies that may have been done on teaching Prolog as
a first programming language? Are there any schools that are doing this?
I would be particularly interested in studies and/or experience involving
children. My son is in fifth grade (age 10) and has used computers extensively
in class for several years. However, this is the first year that they will be
introducing programming concepts. His math textbook includes a small section
in each chapter that explains something about programming. Much to my dismay,
the very first line of code that my son will study in class is:
10 IF (A<B) THEN GOTO 50
(groan!)
I would think that students nowadays would be learning to program with some-
thing better that unstructured BASIC (maybe Pascal?). Yes, I know that an
interpreted language is easier for the young student to manage, but products
like Turbo Pascal have blurred the distinction between interpreted and compiled
programming.
Anyway, it occurred to me that there may be some place in this wide world of
ours where logic programming is taught first. I am curious about the results
of such efforts. I plan to express my concerns to the school district about
the use of BASIC (or at least the immediate use of GOTO).
-- Dave Elliott
davee@hpda.hp.comlb0q+@andrew.cmu.edu (Leslie Burkholder) (09/15/89)
Prolog is used with children at a number of schools in the UK. It is used as a European alternative to Logo. I assume it is the first programming language. For some example materials see Jon Nichol, Jonathan Briggs, and Jackie Dean (ed), Prolog, Children, and Students (New York: Nichols Publishing Co 1988). Wouldn't you have an easier time arguing for Logo? Leslie Burkholder