Re: Per the discussions of Software Engineering

On Sat, 21 Apr 2007 17:19:03 GMT, "Robert" <Robert@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

The best Programming Language to start with:

http://www.shlomifish.org/philosophy/computers/education/introductory-language/

Robert


This makes no sense to me:

"The reason for that is that people who dive right into Assembly, tend
to write sub-optimal code because they don't understand well how this
code is executed by the processor and how to compile it. This is while
programmers who've learned C are better equipped to understand how
Assembly code works, because it is somewhat more convenient yet still
very close to Assembly."

Someone technically oriented could well start with assembly on a good
architecture (which qualification immediately excludes all Intel
products.) I can't see how learning C first helps. They should be
*taught* good assembly programming technique (data types, indexing on
structures, bare-metal binary math concepts, general organization,
commenting) so they don't grow their own bad habits, just like
teaching tennis or skiing.

There's a lot to be said about learning on an untyped language. C
programmers often get confused when learning assembly because they
really can't grasp the concept that most types aren't inherent to a
machine architecture, but are human constructs, or that something in
memory can be thought of as several types simultaneously; casting is
mostly in your head. This can be funny.

A modern non-GUI BASIC is a very good way to learn to program. It has
the advantage that, for engineering applications, the first language
you learn is possibly the only one you will ever need. I still do tons
of useful engineering stuff in PowerBasic, the DOS version. I use the
Console Compiler for 32-bit stuff that must run under Windows and do
TCP/IP and such, and the true Windows version for disgusting GUI
things which, luckily, are rarely needed.

John

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Do header files really serve a useful purpose?
    ... Learning it completely is very hard. ... >there is a good deal of excellent software written in the language. ... The also seem to encourage programmers to avoid using namespaces. ...
    (comp.lang.cpp)
  • Re: Should I Learn Assembly ?
    ... In those days any serious programmer, even applications programmers, ... learned assembly language. ... These days learning assembler is considered unnecessary for applications ... So, if you are serious about sys level stuff, sure, give assembly a try. ...
    (comp.lang.asm.x86)
  • Re: sh?tpile of errors
    ... Spoon-feeding is for babies, not for programmers. ... you're not actually learning *anything*. ... need is an "LD" teacher. ... Richard Heathfield ...
    (comp.lang.c)
  • Re: Some advice for a lisp newb
    ... > My vote goes for an alternative - that programmers from a C ... > is a wonderful learning environment. ... That's one thing I remember from my first attempt at learning Lisp: ... I found this quite useful howto long time ago; ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)