Thanks, Joe.
I'm also an oldtimer, and have been through several of the same
languages as you, including AWK, which likewise has a warm place in my
heart. But no, I wouldn't want to teach it to beginners either. ;)
Cheers,
Vern
[email protected] wrote:
I'm a long time lurker, first time poster (to this list). First off,
congratulations to Vern for finding a way to get students interested in
programming. If Python works for you and the students - all the power
to you. I'm sure they won't be damaged by process.
As a recovering language snob I've learned to accept that there are no
good or bad languages. Just appropriate and inappropriate for a given
task in a given environment. Most of my day is now spent managing
people, budgets, and projects, but I still get in 5-10 hours a month
programming with a 50/50 split between a COBOL/DLI/Mainframe environment
and an SQL/C#/VB.Net environment. Toss in flashbacks to past production
work in Pascal, C/C++, Delphi (OO Pascal), Fortran, and assembler and I
screw up statement terminators and block indicators the first few
minutes of work every time.
What I've seen of Python I can't see any issues using it as a starting
language. Any good programming curriculum will eventually get around to
the strengths and weaknesses of strongly typed vs loosely typed
languages. Same for procedural vs object oriented coding.
When hiring, I'll hire a 'language specialist' if needed but I prefer
breadth of experience, both computer and business, when I have a choice.
And I still bust out AWK every few years to solve a problem even though
it takes ten times as long for me to remember and get the syntax correct
as it does to write the program. Now AWK would be an inappropriate
choice for a first language.
Joe Kokosa
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This time for sure!
-Bullwinkle J. Moose
-----------------------------
Vern Ceder, Director of Technology
Canterbury School, 3210 Smith Road, Ft Wayne, IN 46804
[email protected]; 260-436-0746; FAX: 260-436-5137
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