From: Jeffrey Dik <jeffrey.dik@...>
Date: 2005-10-15T03:04:21+09:00
Subject: Re: my mother wants to code?

On Fri, Oct 14, 2005 at 11:16:55PM +0900, Tom Ayerst wrote:
> While I agree that the IDE learning curve obscures the language learning 
>  I cannot think that using a language that requires make is a good idea 
> for a newbie.
> 
> That is the beauty of starting with a scripting language, you just type 
> in the code, save it and run it.  It doesn't require any "build" 
> concepts to be mastered before coding and there is less to go wrong.
> 
> "c" and "make" are a terrible choice to learn about programming (though 
> often a great choice for actually doing things).

I think this depends on what aspects of programming you want to learn.
If you want to learn a bit about how your computer does things, C is an
excellent language (a glorified assembly language, if you will).  If all
you want to do is make an AJAXy website, you might wanna steer clear of
C.

As for learning C and learning about programming, I personally think
that Kernighan and Ritchie's "The C Programming Language" is one of the
best books I have ever read about a programming langauge.  In my mind,
it ranks right up there with the Pickaxe ;-)

Jeff

> 
> Tom
> 
> jussij@zeusedit.com wrote:
> >
> >Taking the text editor/make file approach will result in a
> >much better programmer, because it forces the student to
> >learn the language and nothing but the language.
> >
> >Using the IDE approach, too many details are hidden by the
> >IDE, so in essence all you are learning is the IDE.
> 
>