From: Wilson Bilkovich <wilsonb@...>
Date: 2006-03-01T23:10:18+09:00
Subject: Re: Teaching Ruby to COBOL programmers

On 3/1/06, Hal Fulton <hal9000@hypermetrics.com> wrote:
> Stephen Waits wrote:
> > Bill Guindon wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Forgetting OOP for a moment, and thinking WWW instead...
> >> It's stateless.
> >> Learn how to manage hidden values.
> >
> >
> > I agree.. important to teach.
> >
> > However, in this case.. COBOL -> Ruby, I'd say forget the WWW
> > altogether, teach Ruby.
> >
> > You should be able to quickly teach them how to do the same things they
> > do every day in COBOL, only in Ruby.  You can even show them some OO
> > stuff without having to dive completely into the OO pool.  By doing that
> > first, maybe you can keep them tuned in awhile longer.  Then you can
> > approach the topics more foreign to your students.
> >
> > But, the bottom line is that you're going to *have* to teach them about
> > Objects if they're to learn Ruby.
>
> All true enough.
>
> My own list:
>
> I'd emphasize character-oriented I/O, since they are so used to
> fixed-length records read a record at a time.
>
> I'd show them irb, which is fun to play in.
>
> I'd emphasize that "it's all PROCEDURE DIVISION" -- all of a Ruby
> program is executed, no real declarations.
>
> I'd emphasize that variables are untyped, and introduce the concept
> of object references.
>

Thanks Hal (and everyone).. this kind of thing definitely helps.  Part
of my problem is that I can't draw analogies to a language I don't
know.