From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: *** X-Spam-Status: No, score=3.8 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID, RATWARE_MS_HASH,RATWARE_OUTLOOK_NONAME autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 1696ae,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gid1696ae,public X-Google-Thread: 109fba,baaf5f793d03d420 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: fc89c,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gidfc89c,public X-Google-Thread: 1014db,6154de2e240de72a X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public From: "Tim Behrendsen" Subject: Re: Should I learn C or Pascal? Date: 1996/07/20 Message-ID: <01bb7688$a7dc8ee0$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 169083721 references: <4rs76l$aqd@ccshst05.uoguelph.ca> <4sdlco$rtl@nntp.seflin.lib.fl.us> <4sf9e7$kl7@news.jump.net> <01bb74ac$b7aa7860$7b91f780@deangulo> <01bb7591$83087d60$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com> organization: A-SIS newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.unix.programmer,comp.dos.programmer,comp.lang.ada Date: 1996-07-20T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: johnf wrote in article ... > In article <01bb7591$83087d60$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com>, "Tim > Behrendsen" wrote: > > >Carlos DeAngulo wrote in article > ><01bb74ac$b7aa7860$7b91f780@deangulo>... > >> You should definitely learn C/C++. The business world today uses C++ as > >its > >> power language to develop the finest applications. Don't let anyone guide > >> you wrong. > > > >Not to start a flame war on C++, but all you newbie programmers > >out there, don't believe everything you hear about C++. Object > >oriented programming has a lot of good concepts, but C++ is a bad > >implementation of them. Not that you shouldn't learn it, but > >don't think it's the ultimate expression of what OOP is all about. > > > >C++: The PL/I of the 90s. > > OK > > I am one of these newbies. > I haven't programmed anything, ever, with any language. > I am currently learning C with the help of Dave Mark (Learn C on Mac) as > my baptism into programming. > So, I am I only learning C, and not "how to program"? I don't understand > how the two can be exclusive. > How does one learn how to be a "Good Programmer" without picking a > language to learn first, learning it well, then learning others as they > interest you? > I am not trying to be a wise guy, just a guy who can learn to program well > enough to get out of his crappy job and into this (for me) exciting field > as a career. > I don't expect to start as the Sr. Developer on some project, I will > happily slog it out in the trenches and pay my dues, just explain to me > how to get there... > > Thank you, > Johnf > > -- > johnf@nando.com I will go so far as to say when you are learning to program, it doesn't matter which language you learn. The important things to learn are conceptual, not syntactical. In other words, you want to learn how the computer works, and to understand the "mechanistic nature" of programs. The actual details of the language are not as important. If you want to program recreationally, then what you're doing is fine. If you are really serious about programming as a career, and you want to be ahead of 99% of all the other programmers, then let me make a suggestion: Learn assembly language. It will probably be a bit more confusing at the beginning, but start small and work your way up. I guarantee you will learn more about programming than *any* high-level language you could learn. After you gain confidence there, you will truly understand how high-level languages *work*.