Can Teaching The Key Ideas Of Object Orientation Be Aided By Using Visual Representations - Dissertation Example

Object oriented programming, however, remains an outstanding anomaly when it comes to teaching the concepts and the comprehension thereof. Much as it is difficult to introduce object oriented programming to novice, it also remains a nightmare to experienced procedural programmers to grasp the anthropomorphic perspective necessary for object-oriented design. Below are some of the shortcomings encountered when introducing (OOP) to a noviceParadigm shift. According to Schoenfeld et al. (1993) replacing one idea with another is not a simple task.

Why then is OOP difficult for learners to comprehend Well to be able to answer this question perhaps we need to turn around, and view this menace from this spectrum; when should object-oriented programming be taught Due to the fact that Object oriented programming was considered as an advanced subject that was taught late in the curriculum, this must have dealt a mega psychological blow upon the minds of the learners. This is slowly changing: more Universities have started to teach object-orientation in their first programming course.

The main reason for doing this is the often-cited problem of the paradigm shift. Learning to program in an object-oriented style seems to be very difficult after being used to a procedural style. (Anecdotal evidence, 1999 indicates that it takes the average programmer 6 to 18 months to switch her mind-set from a procedural to an object-oriented view of the world.) Experience, on the other hand, also shows that students do not seem to have any difficulty-understanding object oriented principles when they encounter them for the first time.

Global Regression.It is the switch. Paradigm shift. According to Schoenfeld et al. (1993) replacing one idea with another is not a simple task. Why then is OOP difficult for learners to comprehend Well to be able to answer this question perhaps we need to turn around, and view this menace from this spectrum; when should object-oriented programming be taught Due to the fact that Object oriented programming was considered as an advanced subject that was taught late in the curriculum, this must have dealt a mega psychological blow upon the minds of the learners.

This is slowly changing: more Universities have started to teach object-orientation in their first programming course. The main reason for doing this is the often-cited problem of the paradigm shift. Learning to program in an object-oriented style seems to be very difficult after being used to a procedural style. (Anecdotal evidence, 1999 indicates that it takes the average programmer 6 to 18 months to switch her mind-set from a procedural to an object-oriented view of the world.) Experience, on the other hand, also shows that students do not seem to have any difficulty-understanding object oriented principles when they encounter them for the first time.

Global Regression. It is the switch that is difficult, not object-orientation, for instance getting the learner to give up the global knowledge of control that is possible with procedural programs, and rely on the local knowledge of objects to accomplish their tasks. Novice designs are littered with regressions to global thinking: