eBeckett: Using The Work Of Samuel Beckett To Teach Fundamental Computing Concepts Damian Gordon

Motivation Learning to program can initially be very difficult Two barriers to learning this skill are; –the abstract nature of programming, concepts such as variables, data types, arrays, etc. have no real world counterparts, and – programming requires an exactness of specification that contrasts strongly with the flexible nature of the English language.

Teaching by Analogy

So… To understand how to program, you need to know how a computer computes…

So… To understand how to program, you need to know how a computer computes… von Neumann Architecture: This means that they execute programs by accessing both instructions and data on the same storage device, which makes the computer a very flexible device.

So… To understand how to program, you need to know how a computer computes… von Neumann Architecture: This means that they execute programs by accessing both instructions and data on the same storage device, which makes the computer a very flexible device. The computer performs the following sequence of steps; Fetch the next instruction from memory at the address in the program counter Decode the instruction using the control unit Increment the program counter The control unit commands the rest of the computer to execute the instruction Go to step 1

So… To understand how to program, you need to know how a computer computes… von Neumann Architecture: This means that they execute programs by accessing both instructions and data on the same storage device, which makes the computer a very flexible device. The computer performs the following sequence of steps; Fetch the next instruction from memory at the address in the program counter Decode the instruction using the control unit Increment the program counter The control unit commands the rest of the computer to execute the instruction Go to step 1 Fetch-Decode-Execute (FDE) cycle.

But… How do we explain all this to the students?

We say that there’s a little man computer inside it ;-)

Cartesian Theatre

of the Absurd

Beckett's most perfect piece of writing for the theatre Krapp’s Last Tape

Krapp’s Last Tape: An Extended Analogy Little Man Computer Krapp the LMC room Krapp's Den the stored information Krapp's Tapes The analogy of the LMC paradigm becomes the extended analogy of "Krapp's Last Tape" which will hopefully be more dramatic and memorable for the students.

Krapp’s Last Tape: An Extended Analogy Student’s required to undertakes exercises based on KLT and …

Nexus Model of Learning Styles

Some Feedback "Good practice for understanding specifications“ "It was a bit of a laugh and brought the class together“ "It made me think outside the box"

Some Results

Idea’s Encountered Stored Program Indirection (pointers) Analysis of complex requirements Serle’s Chinese Room Problem