potter@ultima.cs.uts.oz (John Potter) (11/28/89)
Within the Computer Science Dept here at the University of Technology, Sydney, we are teaching Eiffel within our introductory programming subjects. I would be interested in making contact with other people attempting to do the same, to discuss general approaches, educational goals and any problems. My primary interest is to address the use of Eiffel as *the* vehicle for learning introductory programming principles and concepts.
jcm@mstr.hgc.edu (James McKim) (07/10/90)
Netters, I work at the Hartford Graduate Center which caters almost exclusively to students who are working full time and seeking their Master's degrees in the evening. We have more than 400 students in the Computer Science program. These are people who either are, or soon will be, in a position to influence which languages, software, hardware, etc. their companies will use. Obviously their experiences at the Graduate Center greatly influence them. I am convinced that they should be exposed to Eiffel. In fact I would like to see Eiffel eventually become the dominant language in our curriculum. As we are going through something of a budget crunch and every expenditure must be well justified. I am hoping that some of you can help me make that justification. Specifically, 1. Can anyone supply me with educational institutions that are using Eiffel and that I could contact or visit? An institution running Eiffel on SUN 3/50's with 4 megs of memory would be ideal, since that's what we have. 2. Does anyone have a list and brief descriptions of industrial/business applications in which Eiffel was used, or a way that I could compile such a list? 3. I assume Eiffel has been most commonly used to teach software engineering and OOP/D courses. Has it been used to teach data structures, systems programming, operating systems, compiler theory, graphics, human computer interface, or OO Database Management courses? 4. Has Eiffel been endorsed by any 'big names' in the industry (excluding Bertrand, of course)? 5. Are there any studies comparing Eiffel to other OO languages? We enter a new fiscal year on July 1. The month of July is probably the time that money will be the most available. Anything you can do to help me make my case would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks, Jim