ALGOL68 instruction at Oklahoma State University

Abstract

At Oklahoma State University ALGOL68 is taught to students whose background in programming consists primarily of programming in FORTRAN. Frequently, they have had some experience with PL/1 although it is not so extensive as their experience with FORTRAN. PL/1 is usually the only block structured language to which the students have been exposed. The students who study ALGOL68 are typically seniors, although there are some graduate students, and an occasional lowerclassman. Almost none of these students has any experience with ALGOL 60 or any ALGOL-like language at the time he begins his study of ALGOL68. About half of them have had limited experience with formal specification of programming languages. The students learn ALGOL68 in one of three formats depending upon the number of students enrolled at a given time. The most elaborate treatment is given when there are enough students to justify a faculty member spending one-quarter of his time teaching the class as a special topics lecture course. This is the mode of instruction that is preferred by the students. A smaller group of students covers the same material in a seminar format rather than a lecture format; the students in the seminar do not have the same access to faculty as do students in a special topics lecture course. The final mode of instruction is individual study; it is this instructional format which is used when only one or two students enroll for ALGOL68. In this format the students work almost entirely on their own except that they do have access to a faculty member when they cannot adequately resolve their questions.