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Collaborative articulation of how abstraction and language is employed in the computational manifestation of numbers -- including analysis of the role of syntax, semantics, and meaning in the specification and use of software interfaces.
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2006-01-05A Java int is not an Integer; that's the point!James Robertson's Smalltalk blog has an interesting commentary on Joel Spolsky's commentary on using Java in CS curricula. [This comments on comments weblog pattern can be a bit much to follow, but it is what it is. I'm taking a leap of faith that James is quoting Joel correctly.] According to James, Joel writes: The most sympathetic interpretation of why CS departments are so enthusiastic to dumb down their classes is that it leaves them more time to teach actual CS concepts, if they don't need to spend two whole lectures unconfusing students about the difference between, say, a Java int and an Integer. One of the main objectives of Numbering Peano is precisely to explicate this point. I can appreciate the confusion that can arise when learning computer languages; I've had them myself. But all computer languages define and use constructs that can be viewed as representations of Integers. Of course, Joel's point is that some languages do a better job of representation. But even when the representations behave like Integers it's important to understand that they are not Integers. Part of the Numbering Peano exercise is to clarify exactly what contextual description, in addition to the code, is needed to make software sharable and usable in different programs that solve a diverse set of problems. Technorati Tags: programming, Software Engineering Bill, thanks for the links and comments. I finally read the Spolski article end-to-end and I don't think Joel was complaining about the problem of differences between Java ints and integers (he confuses me by capitalizing that). I suppose we could ask him. I think he was complaining about curriculum designers looking for ways to dumb programming languages down even more, and he was looking for a speculative up side. I think his tongue is stuck in his cheek here. I agree about pointers, and I agree about recursion. Of course you can still lose on a pointer in Java too, only what you get is a null-object exception. And these days the stack traceback gets spewed onto some unsuspecting user's browser as the server-side application vomits and dies. So I think we may be violently agreeing with Joel. I wonder what he says?
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