Exam Board Deletes C and PHP From CompSci A-Levels

VitaminB52 writes "A-level computer science students will no longer be taught C, C#, or PHP from next year following a decision to withdraw the languages by the largest UK exam board. Schools teaching the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance's (AQA) COMP1 syllabus have been asked to use one of its other approved languages — Java, Pascal/Delphi, Python 2.6, Python 3.1, Visual Basic 6, and VB.Net 2008. Pascal/Delphi is 'highly recommended' by the exam board because it is stable and was designed to teach programming and problem-solving."

Comments

Serious applications are still written in Delphi

[ZP-Blight]

We've been using Delphi to develop our project (see sig) for years and we find it very intuitive and friendly to design user-interface based Win32 applications. I personally feel that Pascal's syntax is much clearer than most languages and yet flexible and powerful enough to develop major projects, making it ideal for teaching client-side programming to newcomers.

The only sad thing about Delphi (which I hope will be rectified) is:
1. No 64bit compiler.
2. No mobile platform support (except maybe .NET for WinCE devices, but those are dying out due to iPhone/BB/Android and even WinMo7 which is turning into an even more simplified iPhoneish design).

Re:Maybe I'm missing something

[wisnoskij]

I am taking computer science in university right now.
We do eventually take courses to learn a little C++, but I do not think we are ever taught any C.
C is historic, and not something I think anyone should want to ever use (why use an abacus when you have a calculator).

Re:Atleast they still allow Java

[LizardKing]

references are as good as pointers

Really? Show me the following implemented using Java references:

void
swap(int *l, int *r)
{
int tmp = *r;
*r = *l;
*l = tmp;
}

Re:Maybe I'm missing something

[StillNeedMoreCoffee]

Idiot, C is an aberation on the evolutionary road to productivitiy. Any language that prides itself in Obfiscated C contests shows that the C language is ill-designed. It was (an oh yes I used to have to use and teach C, First Fortran, then Pascal then C, then C++ and Smalltalk then Java, now working in C# so I have some context) an early language that tried to make assembler programming more comfortable while adding some modern idea's of language features at the time. But it is an early attempt and it is true that learning the concepts of C is just an easier way of learning machine basics which are valuable, but you can get that with assembler or other 2nd generation languages.

It makes a difference if you are planning on being a software developer, a device driver developer, an embedded software developer, an applications programmer, a web developer ... C is a useful for teaching low level coding and in some cases forcing you to do things that you really don't want to have to do that a language environment could and probably should do for you like collecting your own garbage. Remember how much time you had to spend preventing memory problems, and tracking down array subscripts that were trying to access Cleveland. You did learn defensive programming but who wants to live in a paranoid world.

What that tells me is that C is bare bones in many ways or roll your own as it were, but if you have a job to do, you want to be able to express your algorithm, get it coded, debugged and running efficiently in the shortest time. C and certainly C++ are not the ways to do that. As your doing all that extra administrative work to get the simpest thing done (and take a break to fill out all your time and project reporting and changes controls and other administrative overhead), sit back and think, what was it I was actually trying to do. Oh yes, read in some data from the database and merge it with some data from a text file, do some statistics and print a report, Sometimes you can loose sight of how much extra work your doing that is in support of the language or envirionment and not actually solving the problem your working on.

And when you have languages that come with add on suites of "Productivity Tools" like bounds checker, Red Flag, Red Flag. I was in a company where a lot of people got "Right Sized". So I don't feel that C or C++ for that matter are necessary to know unless you are interested in the painful history of computing.

But then I guess there is the argument that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.