Revisiting the Architecture Curriculum: The programming perspective

Abstract

Nowadays, programming is quickly becoming part of the tool chest of the modern architect. Unfortunately, the architecture curriculum does not yet recognize its importance and usefulness or uses inadequate languages or programming environments to teach it. In this paper we argue that it is necessary to include computer science courses in the architecture curriculum and that these courses should be tailored to the needs of the architects. To help achieve this goal, we propose VisualScheme, an interactive programming environment that accompanies the architect from the learning phases to the advanced uses and that can be explored in pedagogic, research, and industry settings.