From: Joao Pedrosa <joaopedrosa@...>
Date: 2005-02-14T07:29:14+09:00
Subject: Re: Printing why's (poignant) guide to ruby

Hi,

On Mon, 14 Feb 2005 07:08:53 +0900, Navindra Umanee
<navindra@cs.mcgill.ca> wrote:
> Richard Dale <Richard_Dale@tipitina.demon.co.uk> 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.

Visual Basic too needs some thinking to put together a program. I
would say that the event-based programming of tools like VB is hard
enough to understand to make them suitable to total beginners, unless
they are kids who are not afraid of trying out things. :-)

I think that the development of non-gui apps is generally easier to
get a grasp of. The one execution path of such apps should help a
beginner understand what programming is all about (you wish :P).

Anyways, there are some materials on the net that you could use. Of
course that you will need to help him setup everything.

I would go with Ruby. :-)

Regards,
Joao