Did we really teach that?: a glimpse of things students (don't) learn from traditional CS1

Many commentators are now regarding software engineering (SE) as a distinct discipline within the wider field of computer science (CS). Considerable effort is being expended on achieving recognition of the discipline as a profession that is equivalent in status to the more traditional civil, mechanical and electrical engineering disciplines. With this in mind, the authors conducted a small, pilot survey of students at Edith Cowan University who were (1) starting the first programming unit and (2) had completed that unit successfully to gain insight into student cognition of some central SE concepts and the way in which that cognition changed during the course of the unit. This paper outlines the thinking behind the survey and presents the results, not to be judgemental but rather to illustrate the actual effect of the course as we have it. We believe, and hope in the year 2000 to be able to show, that CS1 and CS2 (1st- and 2nd-year CS courses), as presented in many universities, lack sufficient emphasis on SE concepts to provide a formative educational basis for a career as a software practitioner. Edith Cowan University, for one, is assembling a task force to address this perceived problem.