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: fc89c,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gidfc89c,public X-Google-Thread: 109fba,baaf5f793d03d420 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 1014db,6154de2e240de72a X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public From: "Matthew M. Lih" Subject: Re: What's the best language to start with? [was: Re: Should I learn C or Pascal?] Date: 1996/09/24 Message-ID: <324844D7.1507@trw.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 185101635 references: <01bb8df1$2e19d420$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com> <515o3b$d7h@goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au> <01bb9fe6$7299d800$87ee6fce@timpent.a-sis.com> <51knkn$j61@dub-news-svc-8.compuserve.com> <01bba638$e913f800$87ee6fce@timpent.a-sis.com> content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii organization: TRW Enterprise Solutions mime-version: 1.0 newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.unix.programmer,comp.lang.ada x-mailer: Mozilla 2.01Gold (WinNT; I) Date: 1996-09-24T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Hope you don't mind if I interject an experience. Tim Behrendsen wrote: > > What do they actually think happens inside a computer *magic*???? In some cases, yes! > They don't think *anything*. Think about the fresh-faced newbie on > his/her first day in CS 101. Their only experience with computers, > if they have any at all, is interacting with them at the user > level. They press a button, something happens. There's obviously > a mechanism behind it, but they don't have any concept of how it > works. Even some veterans don't have any idea. I'm taking a C++ class, and the instructor didn't have any idea that the "++" operator was developed because it corresponded to a very quick machine language instruction in the old PDP machines. When I pointed this out, his comment was along the lines of "Oh, you hardware types." I mention this not to rag on my instructor (who *is* knowledgable and good), but to point out that we have successfully insulated the users from the machine, which was intended. Unfortunately, a lot of times we *do* need to know what's happening behind the scenes. I was rather disillusioned when I figured out that in order to be a successful database programmer I really had to know how the DBMS worked in order to develop useful software. Matthew M. Lih Software Lead TRW Enterprise Solutions