A formação e a prática do profissional de programação incluindo a discussão de estratégias para a aprendizagem continuada.

Abstract

This work approaches three basic aspects of the life of a computing professional, focusing particularly on the area of programming: i) its education; ii) its practice in the market place; and iii) the mechanisms used for updating its technical knowledge. The results of two surveys carried out in the World Wide Web are presented. The first survey named "Teaching computer programming in the Brazilian Universities", was answered by lecturers of the area with the objective of knowing the aspects related with the programming teaching, the languages and programming paradigms more commonly taught, opinions about the didactic effectiveness of the theoretical and practical contents and reports of teachers' experiences. The second survey, named "Programming practices of programmers", was directed to the current professionals graduated from courses in computer science and other related areas with the intention of knowing the professional's reality after its formation, its difficulties and the mechanisms used for its modernization. The results of the two surveys are discussed and correlated, while we looked for to identify the cognitive mechanisms involved in the learning and in the programming practice for the proposition of some strategies aiming at contributing to the better education of the professional, to the adoption of an efficient behaviour of the graduate in face of the dynamics of the area, and to the incorporation of "the learning process" as an important element in its professional life.