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Subject:RE: techwr-l digest: March 30, 2000 From:"George F. Hayhoe" <george -at- ghayhoe -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 31 Mar 2000 10:40:58 -0500
Harry Bacheler said:
<<I was told that at one time, the University of New Mexico gave
language
credit for "COBOL", FORTRAN", and similar languages. (Considering
them as
"foreign languages, indeed, (snort)(chuckle, chuckle))>>
Chuckle if you must, but the course in conversational Assembler was a
killer. :)
Consider the purposes of a foreign language requirement, though. The
study of artificial languages accomplishes most of the same objectives
that the study of Spanish, German, or Chinese accomplishes, except for
preparing students to visit another country and exposing them to the
literature and culture of other peoples. Students learn logic and
syntax by studying artificial languages, and those languages can
certainly be used in research. You can even say, these days, that
knowledge of at least one programming language is one hallmark of an
educated person.
If I were designing a tech comm program or advising students, I would
certainly include programming languages in the curriculum and
encourage students to study them as well as natural languages. Both
add value not only as general education requirements but as
preparation for the real world of work.
