[NTLUG:Discuss] Wanting to speak the language

Peter A. Koren p.koren at worldnet.att.net
Thu Feb 24 21:26:46 CST 2005


On Fri, 2005-02-25 at 08:26 -0600, Andrew Brown wrote:
> Well it is into the second day, CNN still can not make a definitive
> call... HA! 
> 
> Thanks for all the info. As one can see this is the challenge regarding
> my question. I essentially got the same spread of info from my Google
> searches. All of this leads me in one direction, if I want "TO SPEAK THE
> LANGUAGE" I just have to start "speaking" in a language and go from
> there... the C/C++ seems to be the Queen's English/Webster's English in
> the game although maybe not as eloquent as Java, the French, or as "pop"
> as Perl, the Spanish... ha!. I will move away from the initial exit
> polls on Perl and work with C++, although daunting as it may seem. If I
> can learn it; I can learn the others. 
> 
> Thanks again and I WILL be back with questions..

For somebody starting out in programming, it would be wise to stay away
from all languages that require the edit/compile/debug loop. That places
too great a load on a newbie programmer interested in learning the
concepts of creating programs in a language. The addition of a tool set,
which is usually a set of classes meant to create useful objects, such
as GUI elements -- eg, dialog boxes -- adds a task larger than that of
learning the language itself.

I would highly recommend starting out with an interpretive language that
requires no compile. The choices are many.

* Perl is the scripting language of the IT profession. If you are an IT
guy in the typical IT environment, that is the prime career choice. The
available application collections for Perl are immense -- especially
CPAN. Perl learning resources are extensive -- books, documentation,
tutorials, etc.

* Python is a language loved by quite a few programmers. There are
fairly large collections of applications -- though not as large as for
Perl. Some particularly well supported areas are web programming and
scientific programming. You can program in the object oriented way or
not. You choose. Learning resources are abundant. The Python debugger is
outstanding. 

* Ruby is probably the most elegant scripting language and a purely
object oriented language. It is clean and consistent. The available
application collections are not that extensive. The learning resources
are limited, but the most popular book -- also available as a very well
crafted pdf file -- is beyond superb (the so called pick-axe book). The
debugger was -- judging from a year ago version -- not as effective as
the superb python debugger.

There are some other choices. MIT uses its own version of Scheme --
which itself is a simplified spin off of LISP -- for its science and
engineering classes.

I myself am torn between Python and Ruby. I will probably go back to
Python after my affair with Ruby. I like to have the resources that
Python has and Ruby -- at this point in its development -- lacks.

By the way, the above languages have the hooks to make calls into other
language codes, especially C and C++. Using a scripting language as a
driver for compiled codes is a very powerful and flexible way to
program, so your time is not wasted on learning a scripting language
even if you end up using a compiled language as your primary tool.



--
Peter A. Koren <p.koren at worldnet.att.net>





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