Post #1513693

2026-04-17 02:23 UTC

@csgordon After teaching HtDP to freshmen for a few years I am convinced that the problem is poor *text editing* skills specifically, compounded by poor typing skills. It takes many students considerable time and effort to locate relevant code, move the cursor to a specific location, swap the order of two arguments to a function, etc. (We are using DrRacket but I think using a fancier editor would be even worse.) Watching them edit code on their laptops probably looks a lot like if I were trying to edit code in the Notes app on my phone, and I wonder if that's because that's where most of their text input is happening nowadays??

Replies (3)

@csgordon@discuss.systems 2026-04-17 02:33

@carloangiuli yes definitely, also something I've been pondering https://discuss.systems/@csgordon/116417422123280049

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@Starfia@mastodon.social 2026-04-17 02:42

@carloangiuli, @csgordon – One of the realizations I'm still blinking into is that smartphones really are many people's main devices now. One inquiring thread I found last year revealed a pattern of students answering that their notebook was a secondary device, and it was only really for school. I gather that's largely why traditionally palm-sized phones have faded; the size and weight are worth it to have your main device look decent for videos and files and stuff.

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@maxsnew@types.pl 2026-04-17 12:17

@carloangiuli @csgordon Aren't these first-time programmers? Shouldn't we expect them to be unfamiliar with text editors?

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