Arguably, this course does both of selling and presenting the importance of computer science in today's world. I think before you add more speculation, it would be best if you at least look at the syllabus and content.
---
I am not sure how familiar you are with university intro-level course. This course actually providers a wider viewer than many many other intro courses.
---
> I also feel they are the ideal teaching languages, especially for intro courses.
Not sure how involved you are with designing a CS curriculum but at least in the US, most colleges shy away from these languages. (Yale does start in Racket) I'd make an assumption that over all this time period, a lot of these professors have actually put some thought into which language is suitable.
---
There's nothing stopping but since this course is giving you a window into the world of computer science, they wanted to add the hardware/memory-mangament aspect as well. I'd say this is quite unnecessary for an intro-cs course, but not a bad thing. Assuming this purpose, I can't think of another language that would be more suitable than C. Assembly? That'd be painful and unhelpful.
I think your analogy is a false equivalency, regarding topology and abstract algebra. I don't know about math enough to give my vision of a better analogy.
I'd saying teaching kids to drive in manual shift instead of auto would be a better equivalency to having them write in C.
---
The course you are mentioning is for a very specific purpose. Even the author says that the students for this course should be able to program in some programming language. (Which wouldn't work for an intro course where they target someone with no exposure at all).
And most CS programs would have a similar course at 200-level. See examples of CMU's 15-213, MIT's 6.004, Stanford's C107.
---
I am not sure how familiar you are with university intro-level course. This course actually providers a wider viewer than many many other intro courses.
---
> I also feel they are the ideal teaching languages, especially for intro courses.
Not sure how involved you are with designing a CS curriculum but at least in the US, most colleges shy away from these languages. (Yale does start in Racket) I'd make an assumption that over all this time period, a lot of these professors have actually put some thought into which language is suitable.
--- There's nothing stopping but since this course is giving you a window into the world of computer science, they wanted to add the hardware/memory-mangament aspect as well. I'd say this is quite unnecessary for an intro-cs course, but not a bad thing. Assuming this purpose, I can't think of another language that would be more suitable than C. Assembly? That'd be painful and unhelpful.
I think your analogy is a false equivalency, regarding topology and abstract algebra. I don't know about math enough to give my vision of a better analogy.
I'd saying teaching kids to drive in manual shift instead of auto would be a better equivalency to having them write in C.
---
The course you are mentioning is for a very specific purpose. Even the author says that the students for this course should be able to program in some programming language. (Which wouldn't work for an intro course where they target someone with no exposure at all).
And most CS programs would have a similar course at 200-level. See examples of CMU's 15-213, MIT's 6.004, Stanford's C107.