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From: JYoungman@vggas.com (James Youngman)
Subject: Re: What's the best language to start with? [was: Re: Should I learn
 C or Pascal?]
Date: 1996/07/31
Message-ID: <4tnhgb$5ln@halon.vggas.com>#1/1
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references: <sperlman-0507961717550001@p121.ezo.net>
 <01bb73e3.1c6a0060$6bf467ce@dave.iceslimited.com>
 <1996Jul20.124025.122789@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>
 <tequila-2007961836190001@tequila.interlog.com>
 <01bb7b06$311fabc0$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com> <Dv80JA.L6u@tip.nl>
 <31FBC584.4188@ivic.qc.ca> <01bb7da2$6c505ac0$96ee6fcf@timhome2>
 <DvD01C.4v0.0.-s@inmet.camb.inmet.com>
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organization: VG Gas Analysis Systems
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newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.unix.programmer,comp.lang.ada
Date: 1996-07-31T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>


In article <DvD01C.4v0.0.-s@inmet.camb.inmet.com>, arra@inmet.com says...
>
>In article <01bb7da2$6c505ac0$96ee6fcf@timhome2>, "Tim Behrendsen" 
<tim@airshields.com> wrote:
>.
>>The most important thing any student can learn is the stripping away
>>of the shroud of abstractions, and seeing the simplicity of what's
>>really underneath.  Once they get that, all the rest of it comes naturally.
>>
>
>I can see both sides of this issue: the importance of understanding 
>abstractions, and the importance of understanding what is underneath.
>I think that a programmer needs to have a model of how a computation occurs in 
>order to understand issues such as time and space efficiency of the 
>computation. 

This IMHO makes Knuth's "The Art Of Computer Programming" indispansable 
even now.  He teaches many algorighms but talks __all the way through__
about the machanics of the machine.  He shows the student the wood and the 
trees simultaneously.