http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=190876


in reply to Can a non-programmer teach Perl?

If he hasn't spent his book budget, perhaps he can take a look at my Teach Yourself Perl in 24 Hours book. I know it's used in quite a few community colleges as an introduction to Perl and programming and it might be instructive for this also. It's purposefully written not to leave anyone behind, but not insult your intelligence or patronize. It also doesn't teach (or mention) any more Perl than you need to get going.

That being said, some advice from teaching rank beginners:

And one final suggestion: paired programming. With students (espeically younger ones) you get the one-does-all-the-work the other-just-watches effect as a downside.

But on the upside they're talking about what they're doing and when Perl's scary and confusing syntax confuses them at least they'll have another point of view, try different combinations, pass the keyboard back and forth, and do *something* to try to break the mental roadblock. And they won't feel so silly asking stupid questions about why such-and-such won't compile.

But that's a fine balancing act with younger students.