Are we forgetting that the point of an introductory course is to *introduce* more people into programming paradigms?
(as opposed to *discourage* and elliminate the majority through a Darwininan process)
If you view CS education as nothing more than a channel for satisfying the insatiable demand for programmers, sure go ahead with assembly language, C/C++/Java/flavor of the week. Pragmatic emphasis on what makes a good industry-programmer is what you need.
My perspective is that beginners classes must be designed with the goal of introducing the idea of "computation" as an abstract concept not tied to any particular platform, language or programming style. Since there is already enough misconception about CS being arcane and esoteric, throwing assembly language at people is not going to help. MIT uses Scheme in introductory level courses because its extremely elegant and allows for very "pure" translation from idea->code.
C is much more complicated syntactically and semantically without the benefits of high-level constructs. C++ or Java at least allow for better representation of abstractions and generalizations, the basic ideas behind programming.
Personally I would vote for C++; Java is a watered-down/lobotomized version without the same expressive power. Still this is primarily a religious distinction; the margin is not wide enough to matter in the early stage of curriculum. (If you were teaching software engineering or large-scale programming then you would have to look closer...)
The problem runs deeper than that.
US is a driving culture. With suburban sprawl getting worse every year cars are necessary part of everyday life. Public transportation is largely disfunctional, pedestrians are miserable and everyone is expected to drive. Otherwise you are basically imprisoned in one location.
Once you start with this background the rest becomes inevitable. Teenagers will need their driving licenses ASAP so they (and their parents who are sick and tired of chaeuffering them around) can have their freedom. When 16 year olds have access to automobiles long before they are entrusted with alcohol/voting and other adult responsibilites, it is not surprising that their maturity level lags far behind their capability for damage.
Finally government-subsidized fuel means that small cars are not attractive for most people. (Gas costs upto 4 times as much in Europe) Instead the combination of weak environmental laws, CAFE regulations which allows SUVs to get away with abysmal fuel economy and standard corporate practices from Detroit's big three leads to proliferation of soccer moms driving 8000lb SUVs.
This idea has been investigated before.
Dorothy Denning calls it "the grounding of cyberspace"
There is a chapter on this coauthored by her and Peter MacDoran in the book edited by Peter Denning.
Title of the paper is Location-Based Authentication: Grounding Cyberspace for Better Security
This idea is also explained in her book Information Warfare.
The idea is using GPS signatures which are not forward-predictable. As other posters pointed out, that only proves the existence/access to GPS receiver located at some point and time not necessarily the presence of the *individual* there.
Slashdot Mirror
If you view CS education as nothing more than a channel for satisfying the insatiable demand for programmers, sure go ahead with assembly language, C/C++/Java/flavor of the week. Pragmatic emphasis on what makes a good industry-programmer is what you need.
My perspective is that beginners classes must be designed with the goal of introducing the idea of "computation" as an abstract concept not tied to any particular platform, language or programming style. Since there is already enough misconception about CS being arcane and esoteric, throwing assembly language at people is not going to help. MIT uses Scheme in introductory level courses because its extremely elegant and allows for very "pure" translation from idea->code. C is much more complicated syntactically and semantically without the benefits of high-level constructs. C++ or Java at least allow for better representation of abstractions and generalizations, the basic ideas behind programming.
Personally I would vote for C++; Java is a watered-down/lobotomized version without the same expressive power. Still this is primarily a religious distinction; the margin is not wide enough to matter in the early stage of curriculum. (If you were teaching software engineering or large-scale programming then you would have to look closer...)
WakeTurbulence
Once you start with this background the rest becomes inevitable. Teenagers will need their driving licenses ASAP so they (and their parents who are sick and tired of chaeuffering them around) can have their freedom. When 16 year olds have access to automobiles long before they are entrusted with alcohol/voting and other adult responsibilites, it is not surprising that their maturity level lags far behind their capability for damage.
Finally government-subsidized fuel means that small cars are not attractive for most people. (Gas costs upto 4 times as much in Europe) Instead the combination of weak environmental laws, CAFE regulations which allows SUVs to get away with abysmal fuel economy and standard corporate practices from Detroit's big three leads to proliferation of soccer moms driving 8000lb SUVs.
WT
Title of the paper is Location-Based Authentication: Grounding Cyberspace for Better Security
This idea is also explained in her book Information Warfare. The idea is using GPS signatures which are not forward-predictable. As other posters pointed out, that only proves the existence/access to GPS receiver located at some point and time not necessarily the presence of the *individual* there.
WakeTurbulence