From: John Joyce <dangerwillrobinsondanger@...>
Date: 2007-04-25T00:03:19+09:00
Subject: Re: ruby and C

Don't quit Ruby though. It's different enough from C that one may  
make the other make sense in a way.
It doesn't hurt to learn C first, but it isn't necessary to master it.
You will indeed find that other languages do things the way you wish  
C did. C is really bare bones stuff. It's hard to feel productive and  
useful with it compared to interpreted languages like Ruby, Perl,  
Python or PHP.
Much terminology comes from C or before, and many fundamental  
concepts are well established in C books, but don't feel like you  
have to learn one language at a time. (more than 2 at a time would be  
difficult though)
Most of them have a lot in common, so many things will carry over.
Many languages even look and work a lot like C does, but Ruby  
certainly does have a particular beauty about it.
Learn both.
Many people do indeed use multiple languages. Certain languages are  
good at certain things.
Some concepts are better illustrated and easier to manage mentally  
with some languages.