Subject: programming language

From: Ulrike Salzner <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 10:41:42 +0200 (EET)

Hallo,
since I started this debate, I think I should try to end it now. Thanks to
everybody who responded. I got about 100 replies and they are very useful
to me.  Since I know only Fortran, I do not feel competent to judge where
the development goes. I learned about languages, I did not even know to
exist. Now I can give arguments and offer much better advice.

Some people asked: "what do you want to teach?" Well- as I stated, we are
addressing all of the first year chemistry students. So we should not be
biased towards theoretical chemistry. Many of these students will work
experimentally and many will go to industry rather than staying in 
academics. It seems that it would be ideal to know more than one language
as nobody gets around using the computer for various applications. I think
I will just discuss the pros and cons with the students and try to give
them a choice. People who have a choice complain much less!

Sincerly,
Ulrike Salzner

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Dr. Ulrike Salzner
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry		Tel.: (312) 290-2122
Bilkent University		Fax.: (312) 266-5097
06533 Bilkent, Ankara 		e-mail: [email-masked]
Turkey

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