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- Path: ssu-10en85.sonoma.edu!user
- From: bob@cs.sonoma.edu (Robert G. Plantz)
- Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
- Subject: Re: can you help me learn programming ?
- Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 13:52:08 -0800
- Organization: Sonoma State University
- Message-ID: <bob-2601961352080001@ssu-10en85.sonoma.edu>
- References: <sg19-2101960200070001@128.253.183.75>,<4e49fe$qks@news.iconn.net> <0099CF0E.4B42DDD1@pomona.edu>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: ssu-10en85.sonoma.edu
-
- In article <0099CF0E.4B42DDD1@pomona.edu>, jlamport@pomona.edu wrote:
-
- > >In article <sg19-2101960200070001@128.253.183.75>, sg19@cornell.eduW says...
- > >>
- > >>Hi,
- > >>I know nothing about computer programming but I am eager to learn.
-
- > Personally, I would recommend Pascal as a good language to learn on: it's
- > simple, elegant, and powerful. Moreover, it was originally designed as a
- > teaching language, and well-designed at that, so its syntax actually
- represents
- > the underlying concepts very well; and its somewhat more restrictive
- > syntax encourages good programming style. (For example, the absense of a
- > "break" statement makes you think carefully about entrance and exit conditions
- > in loops and other conditionals, discouraging "spaghetti code".)
-
- Do you have any evidence to support your assertion that learning Pascal
- first "encourages good programming style?"
-
- A couple of years ago I taught two (university) classes, introduction
- to programming (done in C), and C programming for students who took the
- introductory course in Pascal. I used the same book for both classes,
- thinking that the C programming class would go much faster and get further
- in the book than the Intro. class. Wrong! I ended up giving almost identical
- assignments to both classes. And I could not detect any difference in the
- quality of code coming from the (Pascal) experienced students, compared
- to the intro. level students.
-
- This was NOT a well-controlled study. And my observations are purely
- anecdotal. But I have posted this on the net several times and have
- yet to see anyone present any REAL DATA (even as flawed as my data)
- that would suggest that learning Pascal first is a good thing to do.
- All I have heard are opinions that it is a good thing.
-
- Thus far, my conclusion is that learning Pascal first will not hurt
- anyone, but it is an inefficient way to learn how to program.
-
- Bob Plantz
- bob@cs.sonoma.edu
-