Remarks on Teaching History of Computing

1. Remarks on Teaching History of Computing Radomir S. Stanković, Claudio Moraga Dept. of Computer Science, Faculty of Electronics, Niš, Serbia Dept. of Computer Science, Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany

2. Why to Teach History of Computing Ever increased complexity of systems requires raising level of abstraction in teaching Teaching Facts and methods The way of thinking in particular scientific areas

3. From History What was the way of thinking about particular probems in certain scientific areas in the past Which solutons were imposed or dictated by the technology Inacceptable for the lack of technology Fruitful or unsuccessful approaches Right directions and way of thinking Wasting of time and efforts

4. Examples from Serbian History of Educations Nomination of Professors Matter of State importance Quality of Teaching International standards and methods

5. First University Professors in Serbia Velika Škola, 1808 Elektrotehnička škola, 1846 M. Petrović J. Cvijić First Full Professors at University of Belgrade, 1905

6. Appointed by the King Sima Lozanić Jovan M. Žujović Dragoljub M. Pavlović Ljubomir Jovanović Jovan Cvijić Mihailo Petrović Milić Radovanović Andra Stevanović February 27, 1905

7. § What is the present practice? The Laws for University 1992 1997 Checking in 2001 Recognizing of inadequate regulations? 2002 No real checking of teaching skills for University Professors.

8. International Committee for Teaching Mathematics 43 permanent members representinatives of 25 states from Euope America and Australia Germany Austria Belgium Denmark Spein USA French

9. Members of the Committee Grecee Netherland Hungary England Italy Norwey Portugal Romania Russia Serbia Sweden Switzerland Bulgaria Australia Brasil Colony Cap Mexico Japan

10. Serbian Representatives Serbia have had an official representative Mihailo Petrović – Alas Nikola Saltikov Đuro Kurepa

11. Recommendations In primary and highschool teaching, force as most as possible intuition and experiments with as less as possible of formalistic elements; in professional schools, give to the mathematics, as a basic auxiliary element, a practical, utilitatry character, and in high education, where the mathematics is studied for itself, regardless its role in other areas of knowledge, teaching should be developed in a purely logical direction.

12. Main Intentions Is it necessary to mention, besides the common gains that will result from this common approaching of mathematical teaching in different countries, also undoubtful use of reciprocity and mutual relationships that will exists between schools in different countries, which will be particularly noticeable in the cases of transition of students from a school in a country into a school of the same kind in a different country?

13. Where we are now? Rigid and conservative way of teaching No proper analysis and control of teaching process Slow reform I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection. Charles Darwin The Origin of Species

14. IEEE/ACM Recommendations The 1991 curriculum for Computer Science by the IEEE Computer Society and the Association for Computing Machinery included explicit education modules related to History in four specific areas Artificial Intelligence Operating Systems Programming Languages, and Social, Ethnical and Professional Issues George Santayana Different areas? IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 18, No. 2, 1996, 54-62.

15. First Conference History of Computing the Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1977 Keynote speaker – Richard Hamming We Would Know What They Thought When They Did It History of computing should pursue the contextual development of ideas, rather than merely listing names, dates, places, and “firsts”. R. Hamming IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 18, No. 2, 1996, 54-62.

16. Suggestions Teaching of topics from history within regular courses Specialized courses for History of Computing within a major on Philosophy of Science