Re: Which computer language program is best for undergrads?
- From: David C. Ullrich <dullrich@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:03:11 -0500
On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:59:12 -0700 (PDT), Daniel da Silva
<ddasilva@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jun 17, 8:26 am, Pubkeybreaker <pubkeybrea...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jun 17, 7:11 am, David C. Ullrich <dullr...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:51:31 -0400, Joshua Cranmer
<Pidgeo...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
[...]
Python, ruby, perl, etc. - these are your newer languages, which tend to
have more cult-ish proponents. I would stay away from these, as they are
your scripting languages, and less concern themselves with mathematics work.
You know nothing whatever about Python. (Or maybe you're
confusing mathemtatics with numerical computation.) I do
abstract mathematical things in Python all the time, very
easily.
An example of something that it seems to me would be
much more difficult in the languages you recommend
for mathematical work: I have a Sqrt function such that
Sqrt(5) is _exactly_ the square root of 5. Exactly,
not a numeric approximation like sqrt(5).
My recommendation is to pick up Fortran, C, or C++, with no real
preference between them. All of these have vibrant communities and are
so widely used that the largest mathematics packages (e.g., lapack) will
be accessible from them. And don't worry about them dying away; they've
been here and heavily used for several decades, and still will be used
through your working career.
I might post this question in a programming group as well.
This is not a good question for comp.lang.*, since it tends to invite
flame wars. The (good) advice you will get will most likely amount to
the following: "Pick a language that suits you well and stick to it."
David C. Ullrich
MIT teaches Scheme to its incoming freshmen. With good reason.
Unfortunately, not anymore. MIT now teaches with python in its place.
Knowing nothing of Scheme I couldn't say whether the change
was fortunate or not. But Python seems like an excellent choice,
independent of whether Scheme would be even better. A _very_
high power/difficulty ratio.
http://www.amk.ca/diary/2006/11/mit_to_try_python_for_introduc.html
Daniel
David C. Ullrich
.
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- Which computer language program is best for undergrads?
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