In my graduate programming languages course, each student is required to learn a different novel programming language during the course of the semester and give a presentation on it to the class at the end of the semester.
Learning a new programming language is hard, and, inevitably, some students present inaccurate information, sometimes in response to a question from another student or me.
In my private feedback to each student, I let them know any mistakes I saw in their presentation. My question is whether I should let the class know when some presented information is incorrect.
As an example, a student showed some code in a language related to Java. When asked by a student whether the break
statement in a doubly-nested loop exited both loops, she said yes, which was incorrect. I kept quiet, not wanting to embarrass the presenter, but I wonder if I should have said, "Actually, like in Java, break
only escapes from the innermost loop.
Do you think it is better to correct mistakes when they occur or to let them slide? I wouldn't correct an English mistake by a student. Should I correct a CS mistake?