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: fc89c,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gidfc89c,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 1014db,6154de2e240de72a X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public X-Google-Thread: 123b8d,79cbfdf4caf8a870 X-Google-Attributes: gid123b8d,public From: jah@cais.cais.com (John A Hughes) Subject: Re: Should I learn C or Pascal? Date: 1996/07/24 Message-ID: <4t5s52$qj2@news2.cais.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 169965564 references: <4t0lcp$p9f@nntp.seflin.lib.fl.us> organization: Sent via CAIS Internet newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.unix.programmer,comp.os.dos.programmer,comp.lang.ada Date: 1996-07-24T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article , Joe Gwinn wrote: >Shouldn't we answer the man's question, without drifting into theological >discussions about the relative merits of various languages? He wants to >find a better job, not find religion, or become a better person. So, >where are the jobs? I hope the jobs are where the people who know what they're doing are. I thought I *did* answer the guy's question-- pick the one that looks easiest to you or for which you have the most resources, pay attention to what people say about programming in the language, and when you're comfortable with the ideas behind programming, learn whatever you want. The surest sign that a programmer is in the wrong field is his inability to move from one language to another, or even, I would argue, one paradigm to another. (There are tons of such people in this industry. I'm no genius, but I think what they end up doing is pretty sad.) Time you spend learning any language will not be wasted. You do not suddenly become magic and omniscient because you learn C or Pascal. And you do not suddenly become marketable because you taught yourself C instead of Pascal. You're up against a wall of "experience necessary" no matter what you do when you're learning. By all means, learn C, because there really are tons of jobs for that, but "learning C" is not enough. To the original poster: Please, ignore this thread, and read the other ones, and try to understand the advice you find there. You'll get much farther paying close attention to that sort of thing and only practical attention to the particular language you practice in. My personal belief is that Pascal is better for starting out, as it's a little easier for total neophytes. Learning C from there, once you have the right habits, is a snap. If you find moving from Pascal to C a big step, you should probably look for a different career. jah