Client view first: an exodus from implementation-biased teaching

  • Authors:

  • Timothy Long;Bruce Weide;Paolo Bucci;Murali Sitaraman

  • Affiliations:

  • Computer and Information Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH;Computer and Information Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH;Computer and Information Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH;Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV

  • Venue:
  • SIGCSE '99 The proceedings of the thirtieth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
  • Year:
  • 1999

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Abstract

When teaching certain CS topics (e.g., abstract data types, operating systems), the instructor tries to make clear the distinction between the "client" perspective and the "implementer" perspective. But when teaching some programming language features and related programming techniques, this dichotomy often is not respected as strongly as it should be. We illustrate this with a discussion of how to teach recursion, comparing a traditional approach with one that is careful not to blur the distinctions between client view and implementer view. The latter better supports new learners in the creation of a sound and consistent mental model for developing and reasoning about programs that involve recursion.