[plt-dev] number of HtDP graduates

On Oct 13, 2009, at 4:11 AM, Michael Sperber wrote:

>
> Matthias Felleisen <matthias at ccs.neu.edu> writes:
>
>> 2. While I appreciate the compliments, I will say that I forbid my
>> students to mention Scheme on their resume. I tell them time and  
>> again
>> that they are not learning Scheme (there is lots more to learn before
>> you even scratch the surface of Scheme), and that the course isn't
>> about Scheme. Seriously, I would expect that someone with a full HtDP
>> background (or basics: I through VI) would need another semester to
>> get to the basic level of programming where I would even consider
>> someone fluent in a language.
>
> That does not matter.  The average training in language X where people
> put X in their resume and their employers are happy is much, much,  
> much
> less than HtDP.  (Also, it isn't really Scheme that matters - it's
> functional programming.)  I completely agree with Neil that it would  
> be
> useful.  They don't have to be current numbers.  They could be an
> estimate, ... whatever.  But having that kind of statement would help
> people like Neil and me.


1. Don't under-estimate the power of writing for(i=0,...) for four  
years.
You get so good at writing down loops first and thinking later, you dont
even notice the mistakes you're making. (Don't overlook the seriousness
of the remark over the little surface joke.)

2. My back of the envelope calculation suggests that this fall semester
alone some 2,200 students are enrolled in HtDP-based courses in  
universities
across NA (NEU, WPI, Brown, Vassar, Seton Hall, Delaware, Waterloo,  
UChicago,
UCal, UBC), and that's a low estimate. My guestimate would be that  
over the
past 5 years some 5,0000 students have been though such a course. This  
is a
*low* estimate.

(This does not count high school approaches because they cover only some
10-20 sections and we have no clue how many do it.)

-- Matthias