Two computing practitioners from an Ada shop in New York, Dr. R.B.K Dewar and Dr. E. Schonberg, who are also professors emeritus at New York University, have recently slammed Java as a first programming language. Their article has received quite a bit of attention and created wide discussion.
I think they are completely barking up the wrong tree.
Dewar and Schonberg report some observations, and than jump to conclusions that are not in any way supported by the observations or their argument.
Specifically, they state that today’s students are lacking certain skills (low level programming and formal methods), and then go on to blame the use of Java as an introductory language for this problem.
To state my conclusion upfront: They describe a badly designed curriculum, and then blame one programming language for the education’s problems.
