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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 107f24,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid107f24,public X-Google-Thread: f4fd2,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gidf4fd2,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,ea8ea502d35ca2ce X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 103d24,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid103d24,public X-Google-Thread: 114809,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid114809,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-05-05 11:49:17 PST Path: newsfeed.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!feed.textport.net!cyclone2.usenetserver.com!news-out.usenetserver.com!sjc-peer.news.verio.net!news.verio.net!iad-read.news.verio.net.POSTED!kilgallen From: Kilgallen@eisner.decus.org.nospam (Larry Kilgallen) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.lisp,comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.lang.functional,comp.lang.scheme Subject: Re: Beginner's Language? Message-ID: References: <9cukad$nn68@news-dxb> Organization: LJK Software Date: 5 May 2001 14:49:10 -0500 NNTP-Posting-Host: 216.44.122.34 X-Complaints-To: abuse@verio.net X-Trace: iad-read.news.verio.net 989088554 216.44.122.34 (Sat, 05 May 2001 18:49:14 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 05 May 2001 18:49:14 GMT Xref: newsfeed.google.com comp.lang.ada:7207 comp.lang.lisp:9713 comp.lang.smalltalk:9467 comp.lang.functional:5520 comp.lang.scheme:3638 Date: 2001-05-05T14:49:10-05:00 List-Id: In article , raj writes: > On Fri, 4 May 2001 20:12:21 +0400, Faisal Halim > wrote: > >>Assalaamu 'alaikum, >> >>I would like to know if ADA is a good first language for a beginner, >>especially when compared to Lisp and Perl, and BASIC. >> >>Despite my 'O' Level qualification in Computers, please assume you are >>answering a person totally devoid of computer concepts, as I would find >>such replies useful when answering queries from 7th grade students who are >>interested in computers and programming, but have no idea of which language >>to use. > > A restricted subset of Ada would be excellent since it can be used to > teach not only programming but more importantly, software engineering > concepts. It seems to me that regardless of the language chosen, a restricted subset is _always_ appropriate. For any reasonable language there are bound to be parts that while helpful in certain real-world programming situations are not illustrative of the _concepts_ involved in programming.