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,ea8ea502d35ca2ce X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-05-06 13:59:12 PST Path: newsfeed.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news.tele.dk!148.122.208.68!news2.oke.nextra.no!nextra.com!news1.oke.nextra.no.POSTED!not-for-mail Reply-To: "Frank" From: "Frank" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada References: <9cukad$nn68@news-dxb> Subject: Re: Beginner's Language? X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 Message-ID: Date: Sun, 6 May 2001 22:58:30 +0200 NNTP-Posting-Host: 130.67.134.54 X-Complaints-To: news-abuse@nextra.no X-Trace: news1.oke.nextra.no 989182739 130.67.134.54 (Sun, 06 May 2001 22:58:59 MET DST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 06 May 2001 22:58:59 MET DST Organization: Nextra Public Access Xref: newsfeed.google.com comp.lang.ada:7239 Date: 2001-05-06T22:58:30+02:00 List-Id: Hi! I would also have looked at programming environments rather than specific languages for the first language to use. Also the environments ability to return convenient error messages/warnings are important. What kind of options do you have for them regarding this? For people meeting computer languages the first time, I guess it is a relief to "forget" the memory allocation/deallocation nightmare, and rather consentrate on algorithms, how does a computer work asf. One might say that Java would be a good alternative then, but I think that a problem with OO for education might be that you make a lot of code that "doesn't do anything" (also known as methods :-), but; a lot of people(young) knows this language now. I believe that Pascal has a advantage in education; a lot of people have learned it:e.g a relative (even an adult :-))) or a friend of the student might have used it sometime. You consentrate on algoritms -> you learn how a computer works. As this was none of your alternatives; the next tip would be BASIC. Perhaps pushing them into Ada after 6 months or something would be possible, but I think that they would be very much "on their own" with Ada. Frank Faisal Halim wrote in message news:9cukad$nn68@news-dxb... > 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. > > Thank you all in advance for your feedback and co-operation. > > Faisal Halim > 4th May, 2001 >