Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Apparently some people "get" it, and others just don't.

Evidence suggests that if you can consistently apply nonsensical rules, 
you "get it". If you insist on making things make sense, it seriously 
interferes with learning to program.

Researchers gave people a series of things like

A = 1
B = 2
C = A + B
A = C + B
B = B + 2
D = A + C

and then asked for the values of everything after. Then they taught 
introductory computer classes. It didn't matter if people got the rules 
right (like if they used A=1 everywhere and B=2 everywhere, or whether 
they updated the variables in the order you'd expect if they're 
assignments), those people did better. Those who didn't follow any rules 
(like always using A=1 but updating B later) did more poorly in a 
statistically significant way.

It was an interesting paper.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
  Helpful housekeeping hints:
   Check your feather pillows for holes
    before putting them in the washing machine.

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