∂08-JAN-75 1959 			1,DEK

well I guess my ideas just don't resonate with  yours. I think it's a
mistake  to  keep  novice  programmers  from  knowing  about  machine
language so that they haven't a realistic floor to build their mental
concepts  on.  It's  something  like teaching  physics  in  terms  of
integral  equations only, or  mathematics without mentioning numbers.
Numerical analysts are wrong to be oblivious of machine language, and
the best ones (Kahan and Brent for example) are careful to keep their
theory tied to reality.  Your letter is going to inspire other people
to say  that  we should  use APL  instead  of LISP.  Everybody has  a
favorite  language. (Mine is  emphatically not MIX!)  another thing i
felt when reading your leeter is that no student is ever  "ready" for
any course in the  sense you seem to be asking.   However, I think it
will  provoke a useful discussion if you  publish your letter, for if
my ideas are any good somebody will defend them, and if not the truth
should prevail.   since you're a  dedicated and enthusiastic teacher,
I'm sure your course will be a success.   You need to teach in a  way
that allows  you to express  your own self.  Meanwhile this  term I'm
going  to be teaching "I1"  according to my own  philosophy.  I guess
the moral is: to Teach, his own.