30 Years of CS1: Programming languages evolution

Abstract

CS1 (computer science 1) is a course that aims to introduce college students to a first contact with the computing world, especially simple computer-coded everyday problems. The lessons focus on computational thinking and introduce the use of one (or several) programming languages for students beginning their university course. CS1 plays an important role in the academic and professional life of new computer scientists. For this reason, this course unit is very much associated with programming languages. Curricula are not much different, but programming languages have changed a lot over the years. How was this change? Are there clues to these changes? Are there logical reasons why the choice of programming language does not hold up? What programming language should the teacher choose to teach students? The discussion about the early programming language is long: there have always been various trends and their fervent supporters, as well as those who are always critical. This article makes a historical review of the programming languages used in the introduction of computing course over the last 30 years, differentiating an evolution of programming language choices in the past century and now. At the end of the article, an evolutionary trend is listed by articles published by people involved in the subject. The methodology used in this article compiles the Google Scholar articles for each of the last 30 years (1988-2018) and analyses which programming languages are used in academic studies. It is very interesting to see how the programming languages used in the introductory programming units change over the years.