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From: Waltersr@usa.pipeline.com(Walter B. Hollman Sr.)
Subject: Re: Should I learn C or Pascal?
Date: 1996/07/18
Message-ID: <4sk1bo$qeg@news1.t1.usa.pipeline.com>#1/1
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x-pipeuser: Waltersr
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newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
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Date: 1996-07-18T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>


Would you be terribly upset if I asked you to take your SILLY-ASSED
Question To The "C" or "Pascal" news group? 
 
On Jul 16, 1996 05:30:47 in article <Re: Should I learn C or Pascal?>, 'Lee
Crites <adonai@mail.jump.net>' wrote: 
 
 
>z007400b@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us (Ralph Silverman) wrote: 
>>Gabor Egressy (gegressy@uoguelph.ca) wrote: 
>>: Seth Perlman (sperlman@ezo.net) wrote: 
>>: : First, my situation: I am going to be a senior in high school in the 

>fall. 
>>: : I've been toying with programming computers ever since I learned
BASIC on 
>>: : my Commodore 64 at the age of 6. I learned a smattering of C a few
years 
>>: : ago, and I took a semester course in school this year which was an
intro 
>>: : to Pascal. Sadly, it's the most advanced computer course at my
school, 
>>: : which means that I have nowhere else to turn for instruction in 
>>: : programming. 
>> 
>> 
>>: : *** Should I learn to program in C or Pascal? *** 
>> 
>>: Here is a quote from Brian W. Kernighan of "The C Programming Language"
 
>fame. 
>>: He is also an internationally respected lecturer who has been there
since  
>>: the inception of UNIX and C. 
>>: "I feel that it is a mistake to use Pascal for anything much beyond its
 
>>: original target. In its pure form, Pascal is a toy language, suitable
for  
>>: teaching but not for real programming." 
>>: Draw your own conclusions. 
> 
>Before you "draw your own conclusions," keep in mind that Kernighan is one
of  
>the  
>founding voices in c.  A more biased opinion could hardly be found.  Ask
Wirth  
>what  
>he thinks about the C vs Pascal dispute.  It would be the same kind of
thing. 
> 
>Also keep in mind that this rather lengthy diatribe was comparing c with
the  
>'standard' pascal, not what it has become.  Today's pascal is as different
from  
>what  
>was being discussed as today's c++ is from the old c. 
> 
>Both languages are evolving and becoming more and more of what the
programmers  
>need.  
>Part and parcel to the "should I learn this or that" question, though, is
the  
>thought that one can do without knowing one of them.  I believe this is
wrong.   
>The  
>real answer, from my perspective, is you should learn BOTH, and learn both
 
>WELL! 
> 
>After all, these c vs pascal disputes are chiefly religious in nature.   
>Dispense  
>with the arm waving and name calling, either one will do for most
applications.  
>I  
>have heard some tell me how some application could only be written in one
or  
>the  
>other, but so far nobody's been able to really convince me. 
> 
>I remember the arguments about how COBOL was the ultimate language and
nothing  
>else  
>could be needed.  I've been hearing these rather anal arguments for nearly
20  
>years.  
>(I started learning programming in college in 1976) 
> 
>So please, don't trap yourself in the one-or-the-other mindset.  Learn
both.   
>You  
>will be a better programmer -- and a more valuable employee -- for it. 
> 
>Lee Crites 
>Computer Mavericks 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
-- 
Walter B. Hollman Sr