Published: 20th January 2013
DOI: 10.4204/EPTCS.106
ISSN: 2075-2180

EPTCS 106

Proceedings First International Workshop on
Trends in Functional Programming in Education
University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK, 11th June 2012

Edited by: Marco T. Morazán and Peter Achten

Preface
Marco T. Morazán and Peter Achten
How Computers Work: Computational Thinking for Everyone
Rex Page and Ruben Gamboa
1
Connecting the Dots: Computer Systems Education using a Functional Hardware Description Language
John T. O'Donnell
20
Mathematics Is Imprecise
Prabhakar Ragde
40
Forty hours of declarative programming: Teaching Prolog at the Junior College Utrecht
Jurriën Stutterheim, Wouter Swierstra and Doaitse Swierstra
50

Preface

The First International Workshop on Trends in Functional Programming in Education, TFPIE 2012, was held on June 11, 2012 at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and was co-located with TFP 2012, the Thirteenth Symposium on Trends in Functional Programming. The goal of TFPIE is to gather researchers, professors, teachers, and all professionals that use or are interested in the use of functional programming in education. TFPIE aims to be a venue where novel ideas, classroom-tested ideas, and work-in-progress on the use of functional programming and the use of ideas from functional programming in an educational setting are discussed. TFPIE is the heir of previous events, like Functional and Declarative Programming in Education (FDPE), to which it owes a great deal and from which it has borrowed experience and ideas. TFPIE diverges from these previous events in a significant way by fostering a spirit of frank and opened discussion in a manner that differs from the modus operandi used by most annual events. TFPIE has a post-workshop review process which allows authors to improve their manuscripts by incorporating the feedback they receive during discussions at the workshop. In addition, this model also allows for material that may not yet be publication-ripe to be discussed in a congenial environment. We expect this publication model to be one of the hallmarks of success for TFPIE much as it has been for sister events like Trends in Functional Programming (TFP) and Implementation and Application of Functional Languages (IFL).

TFPIE 2012 received 14 submissions and had 47 participants. The 14 submissions were accepted for presentation at the workshop after being screened by the PC chairs to make sure they were sound and in scope. The post-workshop review process received 8 submissions which were vetted by the program committee using prevailing academic standards. The 4 articles in this volume were selected for publication as the result of this process. These articles cover a wide range of novel approaches in education using functional programming. Page and Gamboa describe how they introduce students to computational thinking and problem solving using logic and equation-based reasoning. O'Donnell describes efforts to make computer systems courses come alive through the use of simulation and a functional hardware description language. Radge describes a novel approach to CS1 exploiting the interplay of the imprecision found in mathematical abstractions and the precision that is required in programming. Stutterheim, Swierstra, and Swierstra describe a new approach to introduce high school students to programming and to important ideas in Computer Science using a web-based interpreter and theorem prover.

There is no doubt that TFPIE 2012 was a huge success and that it surpassed every single one of our expectations. This success is partly due to the local organization done by Kevin Hammond and the TFP 2012 organizing committee to whom we are greatly thankful. We are also greatly thankful to the authors for submitting their work, to the program committee for their conscientious reviews, and to the participants for attending, all of whom contributed to the success of TFPIE 2012. To support the community of people interested in advancing education using functional programming, we have created a TFPIE wiki page where discussions can be held and where work updates can be posted. We trust that TFPIE will build on the success of this first workshop.

Marco T. Morazán Peter Achten
Seton Hall University Radboud University Nijmegen







Program Committe

Peter Achten Radboud University Nijmegen
Jost Berthold University of Copenhagen
Marc Feeley University of Montréal
Ralf Hinze University of Oxford
Shriram Krishnamurthi Brown University
Michel Mauny NSTA Paris Tech
James McKinna University of Edinburgh
Marco T. Morazán Seton Hall University
Rinus Plasmeijer Radboud University Nijmegen
Simon Thompson University of Kent