From: Chris Pine <chris@...>
Date: 2005-10-13T06:12:27+09:00
Subject: Re: my mother wants to code?

> I am not sure, if Ruby is the best language to
> learn programming, but I am quite sure, that Java isn't.

Absolutely!  And great examples.  I'm amazed that people would suggest
Java as a first language.  How many people could write that Java
program without looking up a single thing?  I certainly couldn't
(though I don't write much Java anymore, so maybe that's just me).

Someone learning to program has a vast number of concepts to tackle. 
The easiest way to do this is one-at-a-time.  How many concepts are
being introduced in those Java programs?

Plus, in order for learning to be effective (or at least much more
effective), it should be fun.  In this case, that means there should
be a short time until the programmer can actually do something useful.
 If you went to learn Norwegian, for example, and the first thing you
were told was the genders of 1000 Norwegian nouns...  (not what they
words mean in english, just the genders).  Yeah, it's important, but
not in that order!  Contrast this with a class where you learn how to
greet people, how to ask someone to speak more slowly, how to swear at
your cab driver, how to ask what things mean, how to pick up hot
Scandinavian (wo)men...  The fun class is the one where learning will
take place.

And what language is more fun than Ruby??  :)

It's easy to use, it's fun, and it's a language you could continue to
use professionally (especially in web-dev stuff).  I don't see any
other language offering all that, and thus no other language better to
start with.  (Though I am obviously totally biased, so take all of
this with a grain of salt!)

My NOK 0.02,

Chris