robinetmiller
commented
5 years ago To hopefully reduce the workload of merging a bunch of changes (hopefully not treading on toes), I've already merged #16 and #15 into my fork here: https://github.com/robinetmiller/llc-intro-to-ruby
This pull request removes the brief introduction to functions in the slides. In the current version of the slides, functions are introduced before variables, before if/else, and before loops 🤔. Functions themselves present tricky syntax that learners frequently stumble upon. Even worse, aside from the final exercise casually asking the learners to define a function to solve it, defining functions is never mentioned or practiced in the rest of the slide deck!
As such, myself and a few other mentors/instructors have concurred that functions should not be introduced in the slide deck at all, in order to reduce cognitive burden, lessen the amount of syntax to remember, and as to avoid explaining concepts like scope, argument passing, return values, etc., — especially when they are not at all required to solve any of the exercises in this workshop.
Don't get me wrong — functions are my favourite thing in computer science! — but it's better to introduce them a bit later in a learner's journey in learning how to code, rather than early on a Saturday morning! 😄