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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit 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: Paul Campbell Subject: Re: What's the best language to start with? [was: Re: Should I learn C or Pascal?] Date: 1996/07/30 Message-ID: <31FDFB6C.2781E494@att.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 171080468 references: <01bb73e3.1c6a0060$6bf467ce@dave.iceslimited.com> <1996Jul20.124025.122789@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> <01bb7b06$311fabc0$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com> <01bb7da1$323102a0$96ee6fcf@timhome2> content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii organization: Lucent Technologies mime-version: 1.0 newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.unix.programmer,comp.lang.ada x-mailer: Mozilla 2.0 (X11; I; SunOS 4.1.3_U1 sun4m) Date: 1996-07-30T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: >>>>>> I was shocked at the results. I had people with Masters and Doctorates who were completely incapable of creating new solutions that they had never seen before. I had people, with *degrees* now, tell me "convert argument to binary" as one of the steps on a logical operation problem! The latter are people who are ground in the "abstraction" of an integer, but are completely clueless that the computer works in binary. How can a student get a full-blown degree, and not understand a computer works in binary? It's like graduating someone with a writing degree who is illiterate. <<<<<<< We have had CS students on placement here after 2 years of study who didn't even understand hexedecimal !. Paul C. UK.