Why MIT switched from Scheme to Python (2009)

(www.wisdomandwonder.com)

284 points borski | 1 comments | 25 Jul 25 16:38 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

Show context

MontyCarloHall ◴[25 Jul 25 17:23 UTC] No.44685710[source]▶

Isn't this just part of the broader trend of CS departments switching away from teaching computer science to teaching computer engineering, which in turn is part of the more general trend of colleges becoming more vocational?

LISP dialects like Scheme are excellent for teaching pure computer science because they are the closest thing to executing lambda calculus expressions. Whereas Python is excellent for teaching applied computer engineering, because it's essentially executable pseudocode for imperative languages, and imperative languages are the most common language a computer engineer encounters in the real world.

replies(18): >>44685819 #>>44685842 #>>44685939 #>>44686019 #>>44686088 #>>44686154 #>>44686222 #>>44686308 #>>44686321 #>>44686533 #>>44686596 #>>44686808 #>>44687195 #>>44687197 #>>44688209 #>>44688239 #>>44688473 #>>44688736 #

SoftTalker ◴[25 Jul 25 17:31 UTC] No.44685819[source]▶

>>44685710 #

Yes. One of the biggest complaints that computer science departments used to get from students is that they weren't learning any languages that employers are using.

replies(9): >>44685967 #>>44686040 #>>44686076 #>>44686138 #>>44686865 #>>44686868 #>>44687099 #>>44689054 #>>44689085 #

1. toolslive ◴[25 Jul 25 22:06 UTC] No.44689054[source]▶

>>44685819 #

indeed. The problem with being expose do to something so much more clean/elegant/powerful than the languages employers are using is that you no longer want to do it. It's like having tasted good whisky. You no longer think Jack's acceptable.

These days, employers more or less get what they wanted. We're doomed.

↑