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=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Path: border1.nntp.ams.giganews.com!border4.nntp.ams.giganews.com!border2.nntp.ams.giganews.com!proxad.net!feeder2-2.proxad.net!nx02.iad01.newshosting.com!newshosting.com!news.glorb.com!border3.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!local2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 08:24:28 -0500 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 09:24:26 -0400 From: "Peter C. Chapin" X-X-Sender: peter@whirlwind Subject: Re: 4 beginner's questions on the PL Ada In-Reply-To: <877gfss8k4.fsf@VLAN-3434.student.uu.se> Message-ID: References: <87ob96ajv6.fsf@VLAN-3434.student.uu.se> <877gfucton.fsf@VLAN-3434.student.uu.se> <87pptmb4p9.fsf@VLAN-3434.student.uu.se> <88cb99c6-df8b-49f8-ac53-54b737a02c34@googlegroups.com> <87eha1787k.fsf@VLAN-3434.student.uu.se> <877gfss8k4.fsf@VLAN-3434.student.uu.se> User-Agent: Alpine 2.02 (DEB 1266 2009-07-14) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com X-Trace: sv3-JLWuqRYvalfybY7SH07SHvJt6sNg80MfuqbA/yed7tIRuHWhAWGMSmbYKKJIdHeeVmx85nFYtXuiXXA!oJz2TAAKJnK/f6vUxOrh97TObXbdcoQzmxeFAeTYoMM4NRR2Mc+EB/qwCkBIuC0W+hlD4SdGzg== X-Complaints-To: abuse@giganews.com X-DMCA-Notifications: http://www.giganews.com/info/dmca.html X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.40 X-Original-Bytes: 2992 Xref: number.nntp.dca.giganews.com comp.lang.ada:182962 Date: 2013-08-11T09:24:26-04:00 List-Id: On Sun, 11 Aug 2013, Emanuel Berg wrote: > Especially when you are new to a language, you can't "learn by doing > it", because your toolbox is all but empty. You need to study what other > people wrote. Examples are better, much better, at this stage, than > plowing a reference manual. When you have achieved some level of > fluency, the reference is great to have on you desk, though. I admit that I haven't been following this thread closely so I may be out of touch with the points being discussed. However, as an educator I wanted to point out that it isn't really about code examples vs written explanations. Both tools are useful when it comes to deepening one's understanding. Written explanations tend to be more general but a good, concrete code example can help the mind form a useful model for a concept and lead a person to a more abstract level of understanding. Also when it comes to written explanations there are certainly more resources than the reference manual for a language. In fact, books about software design and engineering without regard to any particular programming language can often make one a better programmer in any language. Isn't that the point of such books? Finally the way a person learns a new language depends greatly on that person's background. It's a very different process for a person who already programs extensively and knows several languages than it is for a person who has never programmed before. Peter