[grayclhn]

As (potentially) one of those professors, I'm going to suggest that if you're posting on HN, you have no idea how little computer experience some of the Econ, engineering, etc. students have. Matlab and other programs like it try hard to smooth over some of the rough edges that can trip up complete novices. As long as the main focus of the class is teaching "something other than programming" that's going to be pretty attractive.

[aswanson]

I was one of those clueless engineering undergrads back in ancient times...I know the mentality of thinking since you know BASIC and can code up a brutally ugly solution in MATLAB that you know programming, as long as the right number is spit out on the command line. I also know, in my old age, that if the purpose of an engineering education is is about building higher order structures that can communicate intent and be extensible artifacts, that this is not acceptable. We need to put in place tools and methodologies that enforce good practice with code in the same way that we enforce good spelling, grammar, sentence, and paragraph structure in language, from the beginning.

[grayclhn]

I agree with you, but that's not a decision that can be made unilaterally by professors at the course level without sacrificing _a lot_ of the other content.

You're going to cry if you see the current standards of undergraduate spelling, grammar, and sentence structure, btw. :)

[aswanson]

Touche, Prof. Carry on. ;)