On 05/21/2011 11:12 PM, Jesse Phillips wrote:
> I started writing what I hoped would turn into a fairly
> complete book.
Thank you for doing this! :)
> This book is intended to teach programming from the ground
> up.
I have some experience in doing the same. Just like teaching in the
classroom, no matter what style or detail has been chosen, readers will
find the material anywhere from very easy to exteremly difficult. :)
One (draft of an) article on teaching programming that had struck a
chord with me has been
http://www.cs.mdx.ac.uk/research/PhDArea/saeed/paper1.pdf
They divide the students in three groups. They argue that the ones that
are successful in programming are the ones who can form consistent
models for unknown phenomena. (Not their exact words, but what I got out
of the paper.)
> We all know D would make a very good first language
Agreed. Although there are so many high level concepts in the language,
starting to write simple programs is very easy. For example, one can go
a long way without even knowing that pointers exist. Additionally,
having to introduce the concept of a reference type earlier makes it
easy to explain pointers later on.
> And I really want the user to go from first time "Python"
> programmer to basic "C" programmer.
I think, that is a more accurate description than the one in Chapter 1:
"(expected starting experience of none)". I can imagine that some people
will find your book a little too fast. (And others will find it too
slow! :))
> One approach that I think many will like is the Common Errors
> sections which is meant to help people identify what the
> compiler is saying when things go wrong.
That is going to be very helpful.
Thank you,
Ali
