Golden Rules for Teaching
TEN GOLDEN RULES FOR TEACHING COMPUTER SCIENCE
Andrew S. Tanenbaum Dept. of Computer Science Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/
0
GOLDEN RULE #1: THINK LONG TERM
1
CURRENT STUDENTS MAY WORK UNTIL 2040
2000
2020
2040
1a
COMPARISON OF TWO ELDERLY OS BOOKS
Per Brinch Hansen 1. Overview of Oper. Sys.
2. Sequential Processes 3. Concurrent Processes 4. Process Management 5. Store Management 6. Scheduling Algorithms 7. Resource Protection 8. A Case Study: RC4000
William S. Davis
1-4. Introductory Material 5. Single Program Systems 6. Multiprogramming 7. Job Control on the 360 8. The JOB and EXEC cards 9. The DD card 10. Function of an Op. Sys. 11. Principles of the 360 12. IBM 360 Disk Oper. Sys. 13. System 360 MFT ...
1b
COMPARISON OF 2 OLDER ARCHITECTURE BOOKS
John P. Hayes
1. The evolution of computers 2. Design Methodology (register level) 3. Processor Design (instructions, arithmetic) 4. Control Design (sequencing, microcode) 5. Memory Organization (virtual memory, caching) 6. System Organization (I/O, communication)
Ivan Flores
1. Introduction 2. The Channel Controller 3. Interrupts 4. System 360 Interrupts 5. The PDP-8 6. SDS-92, SCC 650 7. IBM 1401 8. Honeywell 200 9. System 360 10. Spectra 70 11. Univac 9000
1c
THE YEAR 2000 PROBLEM
• In the 1970s and 1980s, COBOL programmers used two decimal digits to represent the year • Get it right this time, or the mess in 9999 will be unbelievable (8000 years of old COBOL to fix)
1d
GOLDEN RULE #2: EMPHASIZE PRINCIPLES, NOT FACTS
2
SOME EXAMPLE PRINCIPLES • • • • • • • Iteration vs. recursion Compilation vs. interpretation Caching Use of hints Hashing Locality in space and time Delayed binding
BUT: Illustrate each principle with at least two examples
2a
PRINCIPLES FOR A FEW SELECTED COURSES
Course Some principles Architecture Data paths, memory hierarchies, buses Compilers Grammars, parsing, code
Andrew S. Tanenbaum Dept. of Computer Science Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/
0
GOLDEN RULE #1: THINK LONG TERM
1
CURRENT STUDENTS MAY WORK UNTIL 2040
2000
2020
2040
1a
COMPARISON OF TWO ELDERLY OS BOOKS
Per Brinch Hansen 1. Overview of Oper. Sys.
2. Sequential Processes 3. Concurrent Processes 4. Process Management 5. Store Management 6. Scheduling Algorithms 7. Resource Protection 8. A Case Study: RC4000
William S. Davis
1-4. Introductory Material 5. Single Program Systems 6. Multiprogramming 7. Job Control on the 360 8. The JOB and EXEC cards 9. The DD card 10. Function of an Op. Sys. 11. Principles of the 360 12. IBM 360 Disk Oper. Sys. 13. System 360 MFT ...
1b
COMPARISON OF 2 OLDER ARCHITECTURE BOOKS
John P. Hayes
1. The evolution of computers 2. Design Methodology (register level) 3. Processor Design (instructions, arithmetic) 4. Control Design (sequencing, microcode) 5. Memory Organization (virtual memory, caching) 6. System Organization (I/O, communication)
Ivan Flores
1. Introduction 2. The Channel Controller 3. Interrupts 4. System 360 Interrupts 5. The PDP-8 6. SDS-92, SCC 650 7. IBM 1401 8. Honeywell 200 9. System 360 10. Spectra 70 11. Univac 9000
1c
THE YEAR 2000 PROBLEM
• In the 1970s and 1980s, COBOL programmers used two decimal digits to represent the year • Get it right this time, or the mess in 9999 will be unbelievable (8000 years of old COBOL to fix)
1d
GOLDEN RULE #2: EMPHASIZE PRINCIPLES, NOT FACTS
2
SOME EXAMPLE PRINCIPLES • • • • • • • Iteration vs. recursion Compilation vs. interpretation Caching Use of hints Hashing Locality in space and time Delayed binding
BUT: Illustrate each principle with at least two examples
2a
PRINCIPLES FOR A FEW SELECTED COURSES
Course Some principles Architecture Data paths, memory hierarchies, buses Compilers Grammars, parsing, code