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- Newsgroups: comp.edu,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++
- Path: ncrgw2.ncr.com!ncrhub2!ncrcae!news
- From: jhughes <>
- Subject: Re: C or C++ for a 14-year old?
- Message-ID: <DKxGsD.DFC@ncrcae.ColumbiaSC.ATTGIS.COM>
- Sender: news@ncrcae.ColumbiaSC.ATTGIS.COM (news)
- Reply-To: (jhughes)
- Organization: AT&T Global Information Solutions, Columbia SC
- X-Newsreader: DiscussIT 2.0.1.3 for MS Windows [AT&T Software Products Division]
- References: <4cpep5$7t7@nnrp1.news.primenet.com>
- Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 19:00:13 GMT
-
- I agree with this post. Basic is an excellent first choice because it usually
- has
- a little bit of everything - graphics, sound, etc. I know when I was first
- learning
- to write code years ago on a TI99/4A I wanted to write games. Basic provided
- a perfect environment to foster these fantasies. Also, I would recommend a
- simple beginner course at school or somewhere similar because it is sometimes
-
- frustrating to learn a programming language from a book(especially with the
- increase in hastily written texts that can be found these days). As an
- alternative language,
- I think that smalltalk is pretty fun to code in. I learned it in a graduate
- OOD class, and it was
- powerful yet similar in its simplicity to good old basic. Also, it provides
- an excellent stepping
- stone to c++(as far as OO stuff goes).
- With regards to the free compiler issue, try the GNU tools. They are freely
- available for dos and
- very extensive. They also just so happen to include GNU smalltalk and GNU
- c++/c(gcc). In addition, they are the same set
- of tools used by a large percentage of colleges and universities throughout
- the world which could be a plus later on
- down the road.
-
- Jeff Hughes
- Jeff.Hughes@Columbiasc.attgis.com
- ==========Michael Childers, 1/7/96==========
- When it is all said and done, I feel the majority of the posts to this
- thread are slightly strict. If the boy were college level and we were
- guiding his career future, almost everything posted here seems
- appropriate. However, he is a boy. He still has an interest to spark. If
- this were my son, i would let him try out the basic that comes with DOS
- that is on my machine. Then if he is curious about other languages, I
- would get him one of the many FREE compilers on the net to experiment
- with. The idea is to keep him yearning. Give the boy everything at once
- and he loses interest.
-
- When he finds a language he likes, go ahead and buy him a fancier one.
- You won't waste a lot of money that way if you get the wrong language for
- him or if he loses interest altogether.
-
- I have been told that there is a free C compiler at the web page below.
- check it out.
-
- http://www.hitech.com.au
-
- hope your boy has as much fun learning how to program as i did!
-
-
-
- --
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-
- Michael Childers __ __ ____ ___ ___ ____
- childer@primenet.com /__)/__) / / / / /_ /\ / /_ /
- mchilder@insight.com / / \ / / / / /__ / \/ /___ /
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