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=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,3885b7fd66a1db28 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-12-23 06:40:39 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!HSNX.atgi.net!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!151.164.30.35!cyclone.swbell.net!bos-service1.ext.raytheon.com!bos-service2.ext.raytheon.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Wes Groleau Reply-To: wesgroleau@despammed.com User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.1) Gecko/20020826 X-Accept-Language: en,es-MX,es,pt,fr-CA,fr MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Why is Ada a good choice for an ambitious beginner to programming References: <5ad0dd8a.0212210251.63b87aba@posting.google.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-ID: Date: Mon, 23 Dec 2002 09:40:38 -0500 NNTP-Posting-Host: 151.168.133.155 X-Complaints-To: news@ext.ray.com X-Trace: bos-service2.ext.raytheon.com 1040654438 151.168.133.155 (Mon, 23 Dec 2002 09:40:38 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 23 Dec 2002 09:40:38 EST Organization: Raytheon Company Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:32239 Date: 2002-12-23T09:40:38-05:00 List-Id: > Beginners to programming have a great deal of detail to absorb. > They do not need to be burdened by learning merely contingent > factoids, such as how to operate the not-necessarily-intuitive > user interface of an IDE. They do need an effortless text editor, Especially not one like JBuilder (and every other GUI builder I have ever seen) that not only generates code for you, but generates really BAD code (from a readability/maintainability perspective). > In other words, they most need to develop the skill of debugging programs > by critical reading. This is crucial, because it develops the very skills > that will enable them to avoid creating bugs in the future. As Hoare said, debuggers promote carelessness--they work against the attitude of 'get it right the first time' (not his exact words).