From: MRH <mauriceroman@...>
Date: 2008-05-29T20:59:57+09:00
Subject: Re: Should I Learn Ruby as a First Language?

Dave,

Thank you for your post.

> Once upon a time I used to teach C as a first programming language. In
> some ways it's good, as it's close to the hardware (bits and bytes,
> addresses and pointers etc) but in many other ways this can be a
> disadvantage, as you can't see the wood for the trees. However, it
> certainly makes you appreciate higher-level languages when you come
> across them later on!

I see.

> Java now seems to be the first language of choice for many universities,
> but I would have to disagree with that.

Me too, that is a conclusion I reached after reading the internal SUN
memos that talked about the problems in Java/JVM . . .

> Ruby is much nicer than Java and it will teach you plenty of OO
> concepts.

Great to know this. I just recently learned that all languages do not
handle OOP the same way. I find it interesting that Ruby, according to
what I have read, features the possibility of using several paradigms
in addition to OO.

> However, there's no such thing as the "best" language, so you should
> concentrate on mastering one, then go on to your next.

I will keep that in mind.

Best,

Maurice