CppCon 2015: Kate Gregory “Stop Teaching C"
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Caption notes
At CppCon 2015, Kate Gregory discusses the order of topics in an introductory C++ course. She suggests starting with the standard library’s string and vector so students can work with text and collections, then introducing raw pointers when there is a reason to use them. For polymorphism she starts with references to show how a call can vary with the object’s type, then uses the question of whether the object can be modified to introduce const. In the Q&A, she also discusses teaching testing with the first small program.
Archived captions (transcription method unspecified) ↗Original passages · 2
you teach string from day onefocus on teaching polymorphism rather than being all bound up in teaching pointers