Introduction

My review of this book has recently been published in Teach Secondary magazine. I thought some readers might be interested in spotting the differences between the published version, and the copy I submitted.

In the review below, the differences are due to copy editing. However, another review I submitted was — well, I’ll let you be the judge of that if you’re interested. See the end of this article for details.

The Published Version

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Given how much there already is to cover in the computing curriculum, why spend time exploring programming languages that are, so to speak, way off the beaten track? Some of the languages Kneusel describes are certainly odd to say the least, but he’s not merely concerned with the weird and wonderful for its own sake. After explaining in plain language what programming is and how it evolved – drawing on comparisons with palaeontology – he carefully outlines the distinctions, strengths and limitations of different programming languages very clearly, giving us a grounding in the basics of concepts like Turing Completeness without leaving readers to fend for themselves in a forest of of dense computer science arcana. As a reference and source for teachers, Strange Code has much to commend it.

My Original Version

Given that there is much to cover in the Computing Programme of Study, is there a case to be made for looking at programming languages that are, so to speak, off the beaten track? Some of these languages are odd, to say the least, hence the name: esoteric languages, or esolangs. Fortunately, Kneusel is not concerned with the weird and the wonderful for its own sake. He explains in plain language what programming is, and how it developed, using palaeontology as an analogy. Th differences between, and the strengths and limitations, of different languages are portrayed very succinctly, and the concept of Turing Completeness explained very clearly. Thus we are given an excellent grounding in the basics of computing without becoming lost in the arcana of Computer Science. Unfortunately, the price precludes recommendation to students, but as a reference and source for the teacher Strange Code has much to commend it.

That Other Review

At the beginning of this article I referred to another review of mine. You can read all about it at the link below. The comments in particular are very interesting.

Review of Old Truths and New Clichés: Two versions: which one is better?