A critique of Abelson and Sussman or why calculating is better than scheming
ACM SIGPLAN Notices
Structure and interpretation of computer programs
Structure and interpretation of computer programs
The Haskell school of expression: learning functional programming through multimedia
The Haskell school of expression: learning functional programming through multimedia
The Haskell: The Craft of Functional Programming
The Haskell: The Craft of Functional Programming
Introduction to Functional Programming
Introduction to Functional Programming
Journal of Functional Programming
The structure and interpretation of the computer science curriculum
Journal of Functional Programming
Design of a simple functional programming language and environment for CS2
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
The chilling descent: making the transition to a conventional curriculum
Proceedings of the 2008 international workshop on Functional and declarative programming in education
A robot in every classroom: robots and functional programming across the curriculum
Proceedings of the 2008 international workshop on Functional and declarative programming in education
A functional I/O system or, fun for freshman kids
Proceedings of the 14th ACM SIGPLAN international conference on Functional programming
Engaging high school students in computer science via challenging applications
Proceedings of the 2011 conference on Information technology education
Making teaching of programming learning-oriented and learner-directed
Proceedings of the 11th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research
The function, and dysfunction, of information sources in learning functional programming
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
On the design of effective learning materials for supporting self-directed learning of programming
Proceedings of the 12th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research
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We argue that teaching purely functional programming as such in freshman courses is detrimental to both the curriculum as well as to promoting the paradigm. Instead, we need to focus on the more general aims of teaching elementary techniques of programming and essential concepts of computing. We support this viewpoint with experience gained during several semesters of teaching large first-year classes (up to 600 students) in Haskell. These classes consisted of computer science students as well as students from other disciplines. We have systematically gathered student feedback by conducting surveys after each semester. This article contributes an approach to the use of modern functional languages in first year courses and, based on this, advocates the use of functional languages in this setting.