It is always interesting to read how academics are developing fresh ideas to enhance student learning experiences. In this paper, the authors present a “proposed syllabus and framework for teaching parallel programming,” as part of third-year coursework for a bachelor’s degree in informatics engineering. The paper presents a course with three learning objectives: (1) “to design, implement, and analyze parallel programs”; (2) “to write simple models to evaluate [parallel programming]”; and (3) “to gain an understanding of the [architecture of] parallel programming.”

The programming code snippets in this paper are very complex and lead the reader through several algorithm examples that are only suitable for people with advanced programming knowledge. However, given the advanced topic, the presumptive readership for this type of paper is fellow academics and professional lecturers in computer science (CS). The simple analysis of student success in the final section does provide evidence that the proposed approach has merit and should be considered for permanent adoption.

The rationale for teaching parallel programming is fully justified based on advances in computational hardware, while the pedagogical approach suggested by the authors is sound. As a longtime lecturer of programming languages, I believe it is important that CS courses embrace new and innovative ideas for course structure and delivery. I would highly recommend this paper to all CS lecturers in higher education.