A snapshot of current practices in teaching the introductory programming sequence

Authors:
Stephen Davies;Jennifer A. Polack-Wahl;Karen Anewalt
Affiliations:
University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA, USA;University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA, USA;University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA, USA
Venue:
Proceedings of the 42nd ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
Year:
2011

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Abstract

We present results from a nationwide survey of undergraduate computer science departments regarding languages and techniques taught in CS0, CS1, and CS2. This snapshot of 371 schools provides an intriguing look into the state of computing education today in the U.S., quantifying which practices are actually in common use. Among other things, the study reveals the great variety in CS0 approaches, the relative uniformity of CS1 and CS2 approaches, the dominance of Java as a language for the introductory major sequence, and the tendency for departments to teach CS1 and CS2 in a consistent manner, rather than exposing students to different ideas in each.