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=0.2 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC 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: 1014db,6154de2e240de72a X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public X-Google-Thread: 109fba,baaf5f793d03d420 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: seebs@solutions.solon.com (Peter Seebach) Subject: Re: What's the best language to start with? [was: Re: Should I learn C or Pascal?] Date: 1996/08/09 Message-ID: <4ug10l$14p@solutions.solon.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 173185086 references: <4uaqqg$203@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU> <01bb8567$4adddbc0$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com> <4ue7tm$onn@solutions.solon.com> <01bb8608$9a12bc00$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com> organization: Usenet Fact Police (Undercover) reply-to: seebs@solon.com newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.unix.programmer,comp.lang.ada Date: 1996-08-09T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article <01bb8608$9a12bc00$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com>, Tim Behrendsen wrote: >Peter Seebach wrote in article ><4ue7tm$onn@solutions.solon.com>... >> Probably not. We have *no* evidence that people learned or comprehended >*any* >> algorithms before we developed HLL's. The one I use for more than 90% of >my >> discussion and analysis of algorithms is called "English", though this is >> arguably a misnomer, as I'm not. >Well, now you're being silly, especially considering Knuth >expressed his books in MIX. No, he expressed them in English, then used MIX to show a possible implementation. Since then, he's mostly moved to a family of "web" languages (no relation) in which the source *is* the English text of the documentation, and the "source code" used by the compiler is generated from small code fragments which are essentially figures referred to in the text. Despite the fact that I can't read Pascal (I try, but I always misunderstand things), I can read a WEB program using pascal as the "base language" easily and comfortably. At the end, I have a *solid* understanding of what the algorithm does in principle, even if I'm not sure I follow the implementation. I end up knowing it well enough that I could write my own implementation, despite not having really seen the implementation or tried to understand it. >At first, but what about when you're ready to implement them? Generally, I test them out by writing the algorithm in English, and drawing pictures, and following the rules myself. I occasionally use C for complicated ones. Or perl. -s -- Peter Seebach - seebs@solon.com - Copyright 1996 - http://www.solon.com/~seebs Unix/C Wizard - send mail for help, or send money for consulting! The *other* C FAQ, the hacker FAQ, et al. See web page above. Unsolicited email (junk mail and ads) is unwelcome, and will be billed for.