Mmastodon TechnologySoftware first seen 13 h ago, last 12 h ago, peak #11

Programmer reflects on why universities still taught Pascal

Original: @ slott56 When I was an undergraduate, it made no sense whatsoever to me why we were learning # Pascal . The following y

Software developer Bradley Kuhn recalled that learning Pascal as an undergraduate seemed pointless to him until he later took a course in Ada, which showed why that family of languages existed — there were tasks for which they were the best tool. He also noted the ongoing relevance of millions of lines of legacy COBOL code, prompting discussion among developers about teaching older languages.

Why now: A developer's reflection on learning dated programming languages has resonated with others debating their place in computer science education.

Bradley KuhnPascalAdaCOBOL

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• @ slott56 When I was an undergraduate, it made no sense whatsoever to me why we were learning # Pascal . The following year, I took # Ada as an elective. Ada showed me why that language family existed: there were tasks it was best for. There are millions of lines of # COBOL… · bkuhn@copyleft.org · 3

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