Proc. Southern African Computer Lecturers' Association Conference, Golden Gate, June 1999, pp 69-73

Conventional wisdom places programming early in the curriculum, and places emphasis on basic coding skills before advanced subjects like abstract data types, object-oriented programming, etc. This paper presents an experience of doing things backwards: students are exposed first to abstraction, then to classes, objects and application programming interfaces (APIs) and finally to coding. Java turns out, in its latest form with much-improved libraries, to be well-suited to this approach. (PDF 263K)

The Future of Computer Science and Information Systems in South Africa

basis for panel at Southern African Computer Lecturers' Association Conference, Golden Gate, June 1999

Everyone talks about how important our subject is, yet many academic departments are stretched to their limits: understaffed, underfunded and with more students than they can handle. How has this situation arisen? This paper proposes some causes of the problem, and the need for a general survey of industry and academic perceptions. (PDF 128K)