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: 10db24,4cf070091283b555 X-Google-Attributes: gid10db24,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 109fba,baaf5f793d03d420 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public From: rgilbert@unconfigured.xvnews.domain (Bob Gilbert) Subject: Re: What's the best language to learn? [was Re: Should I learn C or Pascal?] Date: 1996/08/15 Message-ID: <4uv3ef$do2@zeus.orl.mmc.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 174358776 references: <4ut1sv$ngv@solutions.solon.com> organization: The unconfigured xvnews people reply-to: rgilbert@unconfigured.xvnews.domain newsgroups: comp.edu,comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.unix.programmer Date: 1996-08-15T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article <4ut1sv$ngv@solutions.solon.com>, seebs@solutions.solon.com (Peter Seebach) writes: > > I don't really think we are going to convince each other. I believe that > the "fundemental procedural nature of the computer" may not be a permanent > thing. I'd rather teach them to think in the general terms, and see that > procedural nature as just one more current limitation, like computers which > have only 2 MB of RAM. This will better prepare them for techniques that > depend on *not* thinking of the computer as procedural. I certainly agree with this. When I was first learning to program, computer time was extremely valuable, and we were taught to use great care when writing a program to insure that it was as correct as possible to avoid having to *waste* computer time having the compiler find all of your syntax errors. In fact, I even had one professor that deducted points on your programming assignments for each additional compilation you required past the first two. This sort of view has certainly changed today, since computer time is usually a lot cheaper than a programmers time. Another thing I'm seeing is the greater use of field programmable gate arrays (FPGA's) in embedded systems. As the capability and density of FPGA's continues to increase, it allows more and more flexibility to program (?) functionallity into the FPGA. I suspect in a few years we will be talking "virtual hardware", with new and different programming methods, and subsequently new languages, that will be developed and learned. -Bob