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: 1164ba,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid1164ba,public X-Google-Thread: 114809,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid114809,public X-Google-Thread: 103d24,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid103d24,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,ea8ea502d35ca2ce X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 10259a,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid10259a,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-05-16 10:56:03 PST Path: archiver1.sj.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!sn-xit-03!supernews.com!cyclone-sjo1.usenetserver.com!news-out-sjo.usenetserver.com!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!/news!GT-News!not-for-mail From: Lex Spoon Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.lisp,comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.lang.basic,comp.lang.functional,comp.lang.scheme,comp.lang.perl Subject: Re: Beginner's Language? Date: 16 May 2001 13:53:09 -0400 Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta GA, USA Message-ID: References: <9cukad$nn68@news-dxb> <9d6b6e$1bt$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <9d867n$ort13@news.kvaerner.com> <3af79d85.1462818@news.minvenw.nl> NNTP-Posting-Host: unknown@r50h168.res.gatech.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: news-int.gatech.edu 990035612 28107 128.61.50.168 (16 May 2001 17:53:32 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@news.gatech.edu NNTP-Posting-Date: 16 May 2001 17:53:32 GMT User-Agent: Gnus/5.0808 (Gnus v5.8.8) Emacs/20.7 Xref: archiver1.sj.google.com comp.lang.ada:7574 comp.lang.lisp:10166 comp.lang.smalltalk:9726 comp.lang.functional:5672 comp.lang.scheme:3845 comp.lang.perl:2777 Date: 2001-05-16T17:53:32+00:00 List-Id: > Scheme was a fourth or fifth language for me and I like it, but I > wouldn't deem it proper for a first course. Procedural programming IS > a low level business, but it helps us to see that computers do what we > tell them, not what we want them to do. Others disagree, of course. One wonderful thing about Scheme is that it's very easy to learn recursion with it. I don't think I really understood recursion until I saw the way it's formulated in Scheme: (defun myfunc (x1 x2) (cond ((base case 1) (code for base case 1)) ((base case 2) (code for base case 2)) ((... however many base cases you want...)) ((recursive case) (recursive code)))) There are lots of things to think about when picking an initial language. One of the most important for rank beginners is the *primitives* that are available. If the learner is happy averaging lists of numbers and generating sentences and things like that, then Scheme is a wonderful place to start, but many beginners would be happier playing with graphical objcets.... Lex