What are the skills of the students with respect to general programming skills?

I have had the misfortune of taking a few too many "C++" courses that focussed on... "how does a for loop work". Having programmed for 20yrs, I know how a for loop works, even if I don't know the C++ syntax.

Then one day, I took a course for C++ aimed at those people who were truly proficient programmers, but who had never touched OO (or C++). That is when I truly learned something.

My moral... before you decide on your curicullum, decide who you want to teach to... perl newbies, but programming 'aware' ... or perl relative newbies and programming 'sorta'.

Sandy