> I am teaching a C++ class and am struggling with the quality of the code my students are producing. Their programs output the correct answer, yet the style is really lacking.
I remember trying to help fellow students with their C and C++ assignments back in undergrad, and reading some of their code I got the distinct feeling that most of it was “random-walked” code. Like they tried writing things that looked like C, making random, iterative changes until it compiled. Then once it compiled, made random, iterative changes until the output approached what the expected output would be. Sometimes the functionality ended up right, but with bizarre stuff like: unused variables all over the place, variables assigned then reassigned without using the first value, uses of pointer indirection that look like the student kept adding or removing asterisks until it didn’t crash, elaborate class hierarchies that went unused, etc. It’s like the Infinite Monkeys Eventually Producing Shakespeare thing but with programming assignments.
Yes, that's exactly my own experience. Moreover, we are forced to use ROOT [1] to compute histograms and create graphics: its weird
use of OOP makes the students think that they have to use classes even to implement simple functions (e.g., printing a list of values).
I remember trying to help fellow students with their C and C++ assignments back in undergrad, and reading some of their code I got the distinct feeling that most of it was “random-walked” code. Like they tried writing things that looked like C, making random, iterative changes until it compiled. Then once it compiled, made random, iterative changes until the output approached what the expected output would be. Sometimes the functionality ended up right, but with bizarre stuff like: unused variables all over the place, variables assigned then reassigned without using the first value, uses of pointer indirection that look like the student kept adding or removing asterisks until it didn’t crash, elaborate class hierarchies that went unused, etc. It’s like the Infinite Monkeys Eventually Producing Shakespeare thing but with programming assignments.