Current Events > "Stop abusing (virtual) animals when teaching programming"

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://medium.com/@_Mikonsaari/stop-abusing-virtual-animals-when-teaching-programming-a64adc93525a

I lol'd when I read the tagline and half expected a PETA-esque rant, but it makes a good point actually.

How many of you, when reading about tutorial on programming have come across an example like this:

[...]

The example does it’s job on explaining how inheritance works, but offers no clues on what kind of problems you can solve with it and why is it better than an alternative approach to a problem. This is like explaining a hammer as “a useful tool which has a wooden part and a metal part, and hitting something with the metal part makes it go bang”.

Programming patterns and techniques are tools which are used to make it easier to implement complex behavior or logic while keeping the code maintainable and easier to build upon. Most real life examples may be too complex for beginners but I think there exists a middle ground between 1000-line real life examples and “Cow goes moo”.

I didn't see any animal abuse but then again I stopped right where you did, lol.
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Good article. Basically talks about how many programming classes don't use real world examples, and instead obfuscate the usefulness of programming with confusing allegories and examples. As someone who went to school for programming, and basically taught myself everything because Florida schools couldn't teach you to tie a shoelace, I agree.
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Yeah I do definitely agree with that.

I can't tell you how many times I've looked up an example and the example is so dang barebones you can't use it.
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I would kick my son out of the house if he favored inheritance over composition.
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