From: Navindra Umanee Date: 2005-02-14T07:08:53+09:00 Subject: Re: Printing why's (poignant) guide to ruby Richard Dale wrote: > I'd like to try ruby on non-programmers teaching them using why's amazing > guide, to see how it works as a beginner's language. I showed some ruby > code to my 45 year old lodger who has never used a computer or seen a > computer program. He said "it looks like English, I thought computer > programming was maths". And he is especially impressed with the cartoon > foxes in Chapter 3, they have got to be the killer feature.. Oh you think Ruby might be suitable for a total beginner? I have the same problem. My dad wants to learn programming. I thought maybe Python or even Visual Basic (or one of the KDE implementations) might be more suitable. He's going to be pretty much learning on his own, so a suitable book and references must be available. With something like Visual Basic, he'll probably be able to get immediate and more gratifying results as well, which should help keep up the motivation. I've seen some interesting beginner books for Python that make it a strong contender as well. One thing that might be a problem at first is the whitespace issue... Somehow I'm not sure that Ruby would fit the bill here but I'm interested in hearing of other's experiences/opinions. I never considered/read why's guide before but I'll have to take a look now. Cheers, Navin.