Luca Dan Șerbănați at the baccalaureate, 1961
Luca Dan Șerbănați in the early 1970s
Luca Dan Șerbănați giving his last fifth-year lecture, April 1989

Luca Dan Șerbănați

Emeritus Professor at Politehnica University of Bucharest

Research, teaching, industry and memoirs

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Luca Dan Șerbănați in Venice, 1990
Luca Dan Șerbănați in New York, 2005
Luca Dan Șerbănați

Matematică aplicată în tehnica de calcul

Manual pentru clasa a XI-a [11th-grade textbook] · 1980

Context and initiative

1980: computer science was introduced in mathematics-physics secondary schools; a single, centrally approved textbook was required. The initiative was facilitated by deputy minister Octavian Stănășilă, a mathematician who played a key role in introducing one hour of computer technology into the curriculum.

  • Target audience: 11th grade, 2 hours/week.
  • Aim: algorithmics before the computing tool itself; LPS as a bridge toward FORTRAN.
  • Authors: Part I — Luca-Dan Șerbănați; Part II — Petre Preoteasa.

Cover

Cover of the textbook “Matematică aplicată în tehnica de calcul” (1980)

Contents

Contents — 11th-grade textbook (1980)

Part I — SPDS & LPS

SPDS (Simple Data Processing System) is an intuitive educational computer model; LPS is the Romanian pseudocode used to describe algorithms and to build the design reflexes of sequence–selection–loop.

  • Model C: input/output units, control unit, memory, arithmetic unit, command decoder; the state is given by the head positions and memory contents.
  • LPS instructions: read, assign, write; then if…then…else, loops until / while / for.
  • Example: Euclid’s algorithm in LPS, with a variable table.

Part II — FORTRAN: the translation of algorithms described in LPS into one of the standard production languages of the time (data, statements, DO, subprograms).

  • Pedagogy: first SPDS+LPS, then FORTRAN — avoiding the “language first” approach.
  • Reception: there was pressure to teach FORTRAN directly; LPS was sometimes perceived as “too much theory.”
  • Conclusion: algorithmics remains stable while languages change; the teacher’s role is decisive.

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Summary

The textbook (1980) introduces programming in secondary school through a two-step pedagogical strategy: first the formation of algorithmic thinking on a didactic computer model (SPDS) and by means of a Romanian pseudocode (LPS), then the natural transition to FORTRAN as the programming language of the time. The emphasis is on understanding sequence–selection–loop, tracing the states of computation, and checking correctness.

This “algorithmics before the tool” approach aims at conceptual autonomy with respect to the syntax of any particular language and makes the later transfer of solutions into other languages easier. Part II consolidates this approach by systematically mapping LPS schemes onto FORTRAN constructs (data, I/O, selection, loops, subprograms).

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