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=0.6 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_20,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: 103376,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 10db24,2243248c6a74be5,start X-Google-Attributes: gid10db24,public X-Google-Thread: 1014db,6154de2e240de72a X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public From: jtbell@presby.edu (Jon Bell) Subject: Re: Should I learn C or Pascal? Date: 1996/07/20 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 169030120 references: <4sord0$l0k@solaria.cc.gatech.edu> organization: Presbyterian College, Clinton, South Carolina USA newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.ada,comp.edu Date: 1996-07-20T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: [removed comp.unix programmer (irrelevant) and comp.dos.programmer (bogus) 'from Newsgroups:' line; added comp.edu] Robert Dewar wrote: > You cannot express algorithms unless you >use a language to express them in, and for my taste, a well chosen >programming language is as good choice as anything. For *my* taste, a real programming language is *better*, because you can test the correctness of your solution by executing it. Try *that* with pseudocode or data flow diagrams! :-) (Which is not to downgrade their usefulness as design tools.) I do appreciate the counter-argument that it's asking a lot of students to master both program design skills and language syntax at the same time. Therefore I respect the decisions made by schools that use a "non-marketable" language such as Modula-"n" or Scheme as their first programming language. I think it is a reasonable strategy to start with such a language, then switch to a "real" language later, in the context of a four-year degee program. Of course, students may need to be persuaded that this is actually worthwhile! -- Jon Bell Presbyterian College Dept. of Physics and Computer Science Clinton, South Carolina USA [for beginner's Usenet info, see http://cs1.presby.edu/~jtbell/usenet/]