Crossing the Software Education Chasm - Armando Fox

One criticism of the choice of Ruby is its inefficiency compared to languages like Java or C++. Since hardware has improved approximately 1,000X in cost-performance since Java was announced in 1995 and 1,000,000X since C++ was unveiled in 1979,7 the efficiency of low-level code matters in fewer places today than it used to. We think using the improved cost-performance to increase programmer productivity makes sense in general, but especially so in the classroom.

http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2012/5/148610-crossing-the-software-education-chasm/fulltext

http://www.armandofox.com/geek/2012/04/crossing-the-software-education-chasm/

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asked 23 Apr '12, 18:38

robrambusch ♦
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edited 23 Apr '12, 18:39

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We think using the improved cost-performance to increase programmer productivity makes sense in general, but especially so in the classroom.

I tend to agree in educational settings (depending on the goal of the course).

Regarding the "in general", while I agree that there are more situations where programmer productivity outweighs the improved performance difference, there are still quite a number of cases where performance is required. The key is being able to identify which case you are in, and applying the right tools (i.e., choice of programming languages) for the task at hand.

I find this being highlighted as we are swinging back to a programmable devices which are woefully underpowered (relatively speaking) --- smartphones.

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answered 23 Apr '12, 23:26

egoots
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Crossing the Software Education Chasm - Armando Fox

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