8/26          \_ of course, i was actually there when 60abc was created.
                 and one of the stated goals was cs50/55 was too difficult,
                 and there was too much material to be covered in 2 semesters.
                 i was even there when they decided that teach both scheme
                 and c in 1 semester was too difficult, and they watered
                 that down also.
                 \_ Who are you? Email me, I'm quite curious to hear some
                    concrete details of what happenned with the 50->60 switch,
                    if you're indeed for real. -alexf
                    \_ you could ask clancy or bh for details. anyway, once
                       you've got the details, could you post a summary in
                       /csua/tmp?
                       \_ a ugrad perspective is likely to differ substantially
                          from that of clancy and bh. -alexf
                          \_ not sure what else there is to say.  the
                             unofficial reason for going from the 50/55
                             sequence to the 60abc sequence was too many
                             people was failing out of 50.  so they
                             essentially took the original 50 and split it
                             into 2 classes, 60a and 60c.  60b was largely
                             the same as 55.  of course, after the 1st
                             semester, it was obvious students still
                             couldn't handle both c and scheme in one
                             semester.  so by the 2nd semester of the class
                             (sp87 i think), they further reduced 60a to
                             scheme only and saved c for 60c.  scuttlebutt
                             was guys who took the original 60a breezed
                             through the watered down 60c, and guys who
                             took the later watered down 60a had more
                             problems. -tse