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How to design co-programs

Part of: JFP Education Matters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2021

JEREMY GIBBONS Open the ORCID record for JEREMY GIBBONS [Opens in a new window]
JEREMY GIBBONS*
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK (e-mail: jeremy.gibbons@cs.ox.ac.uk)
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Abstract

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The observation that program structure follows data structure is a key lesson in introductory programming: good hints for possible program designs can be found by considering the structure of the data concerned. In particular, this lesson is a core message of the influential textbook “How to Design Programs” by Felleisen, Findler, Flatt, and Krishnamurthi. However, that book discusses using only the structure of input data for guiding program design, typically leading towards structurally recursive programs. We argue that novice programmers should also be taught to consider the structure of output data, leading them also towards structurally corecursive programs.

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Education Matters
Information
Journal of Functional Programming , Volume 31 , 2021 , e15
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Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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