From: David Masover <ninja@...>
Date: 2008-05-29T06:04:51+09:00
Subject: Re: Should I Learn Ruby as a First Language?

On Wednesday 28 May 2008 13:36:30 Kyle Schmitt wrote:

> Learn C first.
> 
> To really get programming, to understand what's going on, you need to
> go deep.  All the way down to C (though some say assembler).

And that's the point, really. Some say assembler. You say C. I say neither, or 
it depends.

I would say, start with something like Ruby or Python. There's a minimum of 
busywork between you and what you actually want to make. It'll get you in, 
and get you hooked.

It also means you'll have a solid grasp of a few core concepts before moving 
on to C. You won't spend the whole time learning what a variable is, or what 
a function is, because you'll already know how to program. Instead, you'll 
spend your time learning all that depth knowledge you're talking about -- how 
to allocate memory, what a pointer is, etc.

But it's not really a closed debate, by any means. I started (barely) with 
QBASIC (multiple choice quizzes with if/then/else) -- didn't really learn to 
program until I got a good book on C++. So I pretty much did the opposite of 
what I'm advocating here.

And I stand by, whichever has the best book. Once you know one language well, 
learning another is much easier -- it's those first baby steps that are 
difficult.