The real purpose of any intro course is to teach intro programming concepts. C# is an excellent language for that task. C# can also be an excellent language for teaching many advanced modern topics as well. And contrary to your post, you actually can teach both pointers and memory management in C#. The fact the C# is GC’d doesn’t mean you can’t teach these topics in the language. It just makes it optional to teach for an intro course. It’s totally up to the instructor and the defined scope of the course work.

C is an excellent language but there’s a reason C++ came around and there’s a reason both Java and C# like languages have come around and there will be something new and (hopefully) better in our future. Any good CS major can tackle the new or old, learn what he needs to be productive/innovative and make his own career/path in the industry. If that means figuring out 8086 assembly or C# or any multitude of other possibilities, so be it. Is also means that the language itself is not nearly as important as understanding important CS concepts/patterns/theories and being able to apply them to a given task using the language and tools at hand. In some cases you’ll need to push for a more advanced language and/or tools as needed. The broader your language/toolset knowledge, the better off you’ll be.

The advanced CS course work at UVU will give each student plenty of additional opportunity to either learn or crumble. The choice is on each student.

Also, large companies strive to avoid getting locked into monopolistic environments where a single vendor can dictate costs….so MS OS platforms are the least desireable place to be….UNIX variants are the place where corporations have negotiating leverage between vendors (HW and SW), so that is where the real money gets spent.

Finally, top down vs bottom up. OOP vs Procedural. C++ vs C# vs C vs Java vs (whole host of procedural languages). Seriously, the best programmers…the ones people fight over, code circles around everyone in all of these languages. And it’s usually the same guy (or girl) who has the full spectrum of skills. Good CS people have a mindset that makes them inquisitive and tenacious. The best folks I know do it all. I say that if you can’t survive a C++ class early on , you need to find another major, because you are going to get stomped by real programmers in the real world.

Cheers.

Tell that to all Embedded Systems companies who have enough bravery to put BS CS next to BS EE on their job requirements.

Maybe memory management alone isn’t that difficult of a concept, but thinking in multiple levels of abstraction simultaneously is a great way to separate the men from the mice. When dealing with pointers one must think about how that pointer is being referenced in terms of the rest of the project. Its a great (high level) introduction to dealing with assembly.

It seems to me that CS is a combination of Pointer Theory and Lambda Calculus. Without the Pointer Theory how can anyone call themselves a computer scientist?

Besides, C++ just really isn’t as relevant in todays industry.

For some…

“My degree was Java-heavy in 1st year and I think it was absolutely the best choice. C++ simply IS harder no matter how you look at it…” -Jo Shields

I agree it is harder, but IF one can make it through learning a harder language wouldn’t that enable them to learn an easier one faster? I learned Java after C++ and found Java to be simple.

“Unless you have some kind of evidence to indicate there was an ulterior motive here…?” -Dan

Only overheard conversations…and the fact that I’m quite sure I know who started the whole process.