Alicia Carla Longstreet wrote: > BASIC should *NEVER* under any circumstances be taught to first time > programmers. It is the worst possible language to use to teach > programming. This tirade does not apply to the various modular > languages, like Visual Basic, that are not really BASIC but use Basic in > their names. > ACTUALLY, VB is probably not good for a first language(first WINDOWS language, YES, but NOT for UNIX, etc....). It is event driven, and that may confuse some people and requires something else to be learned. I agree that the lack of a "structure" and calling syntax in the STANDARD spec is a bad thing, and CAN lead to bad habits. That has ALWAYS been a concern! But most students will probably not learn that for a while anyway. *I* think it is a good basis, and a way to get your feet wet. Too many people are technophobic. > C is actually a good first langauge. The set of keywords is small so > the instructor can concentrate on concepts like data types, structured > programming, modularity, encapsulation and data hiding,and algorithms > rather on a thousand and one commands needed to do all of the above. A > beginner needs only and for the first semester, and > 60% of the functions in these can be safely ignored. That leaves less > than 100 keywords that the beginner needs to learn. Well, it IS better now than earlier. Computers aren't likely to become unstable if you make a mistake, etc.... AND, they are FASTER! 8-) But C has a lot of things that confuse people. They confused me, but I held on tight and RAN with it! And that was with borland and DOS where one uninitialized pointer, or equiv, meant you should probably reboot! BTW, I tell all C students I know about this, they never listen, and THEY get confused TOO! Some assembly languages have VERY few instructions. My first one had perhaps 50! Few keywords DOESN'T always mean simpler! > Secondly there is absolutely no reason to learn C before C++. If you do > not need to learn C go right ahead and just fucus on C++ and ignore C. > The idea of learning C first is based on the myth that C is a subset of > C++. ACTUALLY, C IS! SURE, some functions have been replaced, but they have direct equivalents! ALSO, the concept of pointers is the same, even if obscured by the OO treatment. ALSO, most C++ compilers(every one I have seen) DO compile C! ALSO, C is STILL more popular. Just look at things available on the internet! > > COBOL, in case your curious, would be closer to basic, but come AFTER > > it(unless you choose not to learn basic). > > COBOL is a dying langauge (although it may take years to die). Learning > COBOL is learning the past. right now, because of Y2K issues, COBOL is > paying EXTREMELY well, but anybody starting out now to learn COBOL will > likely miss the big bucks associated with Y2K. I will not state one way or the other here! You are looking for flaming though! > **************************************************************** > Why are there Braille signs on drive-up ATM's? Why are there braille signs on ANY ATMS? They ALL have different menu choices, NO unique feedback, etc.... A blind person CAN'T reliably use them! For a sighted person, the braille on the keys is a PAIN!!!!!! > I have an answering machine in my car. > It says "I'm home now. > But leave a message and I'll call when I'm out." CUTE! > ========================================= > Alicia Carla Longstreet carla@ici.net > ========================================= > READ THE FAQ for more information: > C-FAQ ftp sites: ftp://ftp.eskimo.com or ftp://rtfm.mit.edu > Hypertext C-FAQ: http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html Why d 0o you have a C faq when you like C++ so much?