int a = 10;
int b = 20;
a = b;
The new values of a and b are: False!
All that example would really measure is who has had previous programming experience.
This is obviously a teaching failure.
I don't accept that there are certain things people "just don't get." Watch the documentary "Waiting for Superman," about some heroic teachers who didn't accept that either and did something about it.
Way back in the 1980s, when I was an undergrad, just switched majors from Journalism to Computer Science, I had a professor that tossed this very exercise out during class, my 1st class (which we quickly learned Fortran, then Pascal at a slower pace, titled "Intro to Programming and Algorithms I"). Except he named the variables BARF and BEER. And led everyone to believe that if BARF = 3 and BEER = 47 and then BARF = BEER, that their storage contents would be reversed. Nodding his head and asking if this was correct -- to which the entire class raised its hand except for the very few (this was 1983 mind you) who had some experience who sat smugly by, knowing the punchline already.
I instinctively also raised my hand, but had an inkling that something was askew, and in a snap, I got it, before he "played CPU" and scribbled an line-by-line execute process on the chalkboard. It might sound trite, but it was a thrilling note, to realize something logical that your brain short-circuits. Today, in languages, you can write something like "a, b = b, a", giving you that sugar sparing temporary variable and confirmed my choice to pursue a computer science degree.
That "aha" moment was repeated when learning about pointers, recursion, regular expressions, etc.…
But I wonder, the way my 1st teacher presented it, if the way he stoked and kindled the curiosity fueled and whetted an aptitude for programming. Not that it made me super-rock-star-programmer but it certainly led me on a quest that resulted in semi-successful (I mean I have made a living, but not built things that sold for millions and billions :)) career. Contrast that to advanced math classes I had where the professors were arrogant a-holes, seemingly solely interested in showcasing their intellectual chops.
> All that example would really measure is who has had previous programming experience.
This test is intended only for people with no previous programming experience. From the 2006 paper:
"none had any previous contact with programming, and that all had enough school mathematics to make the equality sign familiar".
This is obviously a teaching failure.
I don't accept that there are certain things people "just don't get." Watch the documentary "Waiting for Superman," about some heroic teachers who didn't accept that either and did something about it.