Abstraction the key to CS1

Abstract

It is commonly agreed that a first-year programming class should not so much be a class in programming as a class in problem solving. In this paper we argue that problem solving is better taught using the object-oriented paradigm than the traditional procedural programming paradigm. We argue that abstraction is key to problem solving and that object-orientation facilitates, and even forces, a higher level of abstraction than does procedural programming. We discuss the benefits of abstraction and those topics that should be presented in a first year objects-first programming course.