From: Mark Slagell <ms@...>
Date: 2001-02-09T02:09:30+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:10593] Re: book review?

Kevin Smith wrote:
> 
> >Cutting your teeth on hand coding is not such a bad idea when you are tyring
> >to learn something new. ...
> 
> I've heard this many times and still don't buy
> it. I agree that to really become an expert
> programmer you have to dig deep and understand
> what's going on under the covers. But to learn
> enough about programming to be able to throw
> together some utilities or games, it's not
> necessary.
> ...

I've had this discussion with a good friend a number of times, and we
eventually settled into agreement that we're talking about two different
kinds of people, two different kinds of learners.  Accomodating both
without rancor is a good idea wherever possible.  Personally I'm one who
finds that IDEs tend to hide things that I feel I need to know.  Might
be a kind of trust issue.  Anyway, it's definitely a mistake to assume
everyone is, or should be, this way.

  -- Mark