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stingraycharles 3 hours ago

Yeah exactly, I remember having to write Java and C++ by hand in college in the early 2000s. It was also a good test how well you knew the syntax.

nradov 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Syntax seems like a stupid thing to test in university level courses. That's trade school stuff. And I don't mean that as a criticism of trade schools, they just have a different focus.

WoodenChair 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Syntax is not the focus of your testing, but it’s often a pre-requisite to be clearly and accurately speaking the same language. Think not of taking off points for missing a semicolon but instead understanding the difference between the syntax for a method call and a property access. The different syntax conveys different meaning and so we should expect some basic level of accuracy to the language in question. At least that’s how I see it.

tehjoker 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Knowledge is built on foundations. Knowing syntax in one language is necessary to be able to do anything practical, which interacts with theory. You build valuable schema of the world by iterative theory and practice.

nradov 24 minutes ago | parent [-]

Nah. Syntax is trivial and irrelevant for teaching CS theory.

icelancer 9 minutes ago | parent [-]

Lambda calculus?!