Continue Offering 15-102: Exploring Programming with Graphics

15-102: Exploring Programming with Graphics is an introductory programming course. It uses graphics to present and study traditional programming constructs and fundamental algorithms in an intuitive and visually awarding way.

This is especially beneficial for students who have no prior programming experience and are visual learners. Moreover, the course provides students with the ability to "see" their code and produce advanced graphic results in relation to programming knowledge. This, in turn, makes programming enjoyable for students even when they don't plan on taking another computer science course in the future.

However, the course is being discontinued after the spring semester (S11). I personally believe that 15-102 is an invaluable introductory course, particularly for students who only need one semester of programming. The graphic feedback makes programming accessible and less daunting to learn. Furthermore, Jim Roberts, the professor, is truly passionate about the course and dedicated to help his students learn as much programming as possible.

My experience with the course was one of the best I've had at Carnegie Mellon - I hope future students may have this opportunity as well.