ml2mst <ml2mst@xxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> Homer wrote:
>
>> Verily I say unto thee, that ml2mst spake thusly:
>>
>>> Gambas is considered a educational tool for kids, learning their
>>> first programming steps. Pretty much like "the turtle program" in the
>>> 1980's.
>>>
>>> BASIC is for kiddies :-p
>>
>> IMHO BASIC is not even fit for educational purposes, since it encourages
>> the extremely bad habits of unstructured programming. Pascal and SML are
>> far better teaching languages, although I'd be disinclined to encourage
>> their use beyond the classroom. Frankly I think it might be better to
>> have them dive into the deep end on day one, with C/C++, and start as
>> they mean to go on.
>>
> I fully agree with that.
>
> If you start coding in a /real/ language from day one, you will become a
> great coder, because you learned /properly/ coding right from the start.
>
> If you start with something ugly as BASIC, you will fall back on BASIC
> and your bad habits all the time, simply because you don't know anything
> else but crappy coding.
>
> For example, ask a (non native English speaking) typical old school
> BASIC coder what a pointer is :-)
>
> It is pretty difficult for many (ex) BASIC coder to learn properly
> coding in a decent language later.
>
Hear hear.
I've often wondered at the value of teaching beginner versions of
anything, as it just means one ends up learning a second thing anyway.
The funny thing is that if you look at simple c programmes, they're
really not that difficult to write, and whilst there are some gotchas
around string handling for those people who've *already learnt basic*,
if it's the first language you're learning, then it won't be a problem,
because it's the way you'll learn from the start.
I quite like pascal, but in the end, why bother if you can learn c in
the first place?
--
| mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
| Cola faq: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/ |
| Cola trolls: http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/ |
| Open platforms prevent vendor lock-in. Own your Own services! |
|
|
