Exam Board Deletes C and PHP From CompSci A-Levels

VitaminB52 writes "A-level computer science students will no longer be taught C, C#, or PHP from next year following a decision to withdraw the languages by the largest UK exam board. Schools teaching the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance's (AQA) COMP1 syllabus have been asked to use one of its other approved languages — Java, Pascal/Delphi, Python 2.6, Python 3.1, Visual Basic 6, and VB.Net 2008. Pascal/Delphi is 'highly recommended' by the exam board because it is stable and was designed to teach programming and problem-solving."

Ah, Memories.

[daitengu]

This warms my heart, the first language I learned was TurboPascal just so I could program Door Games for my BBS. I still run a BBS I still haven't written any door games.

Re:C is key

[Threni]

Look on the bright side - people can now learn VB6 instead...

Re:Dumbing Down

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this a case of dumbing down or are students just becoming lazy(-er)..?

Maybe this [theregister.co.uk] can shed some light on the matter?

Something is dumbed down and I don't think it is the students.

Re:Maybe I'm missing something

[SharpFang]

If you know Java, pointers in C will be black magic to you.

Re:C is key

[TheRaven64]

Using the C preprocessor teaches you one very important thing:

Think very carefully before releasing an ugly, badly designed, piece of crap, because in 40 years time it may still be part of an ISO standard and entire generation of programmers will hate you.

Re:Then why not C?

[Anonymous Coward]

But object oriented programming *is* alien!

Re:Maybe I'm missing something

[Jurily]

Yes, and you'll growa beard [codethinked.com].

Re:Maybe I'm missing something

[techhead79]

So...you're a COBOL programmer....you know they kinda exist in their own little world right?

See signature.

[RingDev]

As it was said before: "never take software advice from a bug tracking system salesman" -AV