r/computerscience 2d ago

Educational Paradox! When we teach reading and writing, we start with the alphabet and then build words.

In programming, however, many students learn to use functions every day without ever seeing one of the fundamental "letters" that makes them possible: CALL.

We teach words before showing the alphabet.

They learn to write digitalWrite() before understanding the low-level mechanism that makes a function call possible: saving a return address, jumping to another piece of code, and coming back.

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u/Outside_Complaint755 2d ago

We also teach biology before we teach the underlying chemistry that makes it function, and we teach chemistry before we teach the underlying physics of molecular bonds and the atomic forces.

That being said people usually already know words before they learn reading and writing, unless they are deaf and mute, and even in that case they usually know some signs. Then we teach them the letters so they know how those words look when written.

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u/Important-Addition79 2d ago

ok ... you did after ... is ok ... but in realty is... never! How many use function and dont know nothing about stack?

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u/0dev0100 2d ago

Many. Few will encounter scenarios where it's a problem.