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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,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: fc89c,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gidfc89c,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 1014db,6154de2e240de72a X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public X-Google-Thread: 10db24,4cf070091283b555 X-Google-Attributes: gid10db24,public From: Dan.Pop@cern.ch (Dan Pop) Subject: Re: What's the best language to learn? [was Re: Should I learn C or Pascal?] Date: 1996/08/14 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 174188946 sender: news@news.cern.ch (USENET News System) x-nntp-posting-host: ues5.cern.ch references: <4u7hi6$s2b@nntp.seflin.lib.fl.us> <4uo74j$95p@ns.broadvision.com> <01bb8950$2c8dcc60$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com> <4urmvu$dfp@solutions.solon.com> <01bb89f1$31be4f60$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com> organization: CERN European Lab for Particle Physics newsgroups: comp.edu,comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.unix.programmer Date: 1996-08-14T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In dewar@cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar) writes: >Tim says > >""abstraction" question, it's a question of breaking it down >into fundamental steps of data transformations. Testing a >number as even is transforming a number into a bit based on >its evenness property." > >Well it is certainly easy to see why you like to teach assembler early, >and to me, your viewpoint is a good example of why I do NOT like that >approach, you have an unrelenting low level viewpoint of things, for >example what on EARTH from a semantic point of view does a test for >evenness >have with a "bit", nothing at all! And I could swear Tim's implementation of the evenness test will break on machines using the one's complement representation :-) Dan -- Dan Pop CERN, CN Division Email: Dan.Pop@cern.ch Mail: CERN - PPE, Bat. 31 R-004, CH-1211 Geneve 23, Switzerland