> Philipp Meier <meier / meisterbohne.de> writes:
>
> I remember back in 1969 in my Introduction to Computer Programming
> course (or whatever it was called), some of the first things we learned
> had to do with fixed point and floating point arithmetic.  We spent a
> good month or so on these and other basic concepts before we were given
> our first program to write.
> 
> Do they even teach these basics any more?
> 
> I'm not trying to disparage anyone here; if something hasn't been
> taught, then no one can be expected to have learned it.
> 
> But it's disturbing to me to see the number of people who are posting in
> this and other newsgroups in recent years who haven't been exposed to
> the concepts of fixed-point and floating-point arithmetic.  This
> indicates to me that there are many schools these days which don't make
> the effort to teach these basic concepts to their computer science
> students.  The fault is with these schools, and that's sad.
> 

I agree that it's strange, but I don't feel so strongly about it.  Other
than programmers, most people I know haven't thought about the
difference between an integer and a decimal value since they were in 5th
grade (around age 10).  I tend to approach programming like I'm
explaining a task to a 5th grader, speaking carefully and assuming that
I have to step through all but the most fundamental stuff.  Of course,
your average 10 year old child is still smarter than a computer most of
the time.

Another note: I'm one of the self-taught folks.  I only know about how
the computer treats integers and floats from my own awkward efforts with
C/C++.

-Brian W

-- 
Brian Wisti (brian at coolnamehere dot com)
http://coolnamehere.com/