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=0.1 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_05,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: 1014db,6154de2e240de72a X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public X-Google-Thread: fc89c,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gidfc89c,public X-Google-Thread: 123b8d,79cbfdf4caf8a870 X-Google-Attributes: gid123b8d,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: djohnson@tartarus.ucsd.edu (Darin Johnson) Subject: Re: Should I learn C or Pascal? Date: 1996/07/24 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 169899713 sender: djohnson@tartarus.ucsd.edu references: organization: UCSD Computer Science and Engineering Department newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.unix.programmer,comp.os.dos.programmer,comp.lang.ada Date: 1996-07-24T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: gwinn@res.ray.com (Joe Gwinn) writes: > Shouldn't we answer the man's question, without drifting into theological > discussions about the relative merits of various languages? He wants to > find a better job, not find religion, or become a better person. So, > where are the jobs? And speaking of theology - give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for life. That's why the thread has drifted. The original poster wanted to know where to get a fish. If he learns the language that gets him a job now, what happens next year? The language will change - and more often the way the language is used will change. When you know how to program, the choice of language is just a matter of syntax and idiosyncracies. If all you know is one language/methodology, then everything else is viewed as "a silly way of doing things". If you learn abstraction, you can use it in any language. If you learn C and have never seen abstraction, you're not going to use abstraction until years of experience cause you to use it. These aren't things you learn on the job unless you work with people that also know these things and they make an effort to teach you (and this is becoming less and less likely). I have to maintain code written by someone who just learned C after decades of assembler. He thinks it's the greatest language in the world, and is always wondering why I am spending the time improving code (because it saves me time in the long run). There's absolutely no sense of abstraction in the code, no comments (except to tell the name of the file), little portability (he thinks separate source trees are fine), and whatever gets the job done is what gets done. That's what happens when you just learn the language but not the programming. Same thing everywhere. They teach English to English speakers in school. They teach music theory to people who can already play. Are computers supposed to be the exception? -- Darin Johnson djohnson@ucsd.edu O- The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the Frobozz Magic Hacking Company, or any other Frobozz affiliates.