On Wed, 25 May 2005, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> Computer languages are just there to do a job.
> The best language depends on the job.
> There is no such thing as "a good first language", IMHO.
> Is Russian a good first language? Sanskrit? Italian?
Okay, I'll bite.
Timothy, would you say that the Roman numeral system (i.e. II + II = IV)
is a good first notation for teaching somebody arithmetic?
Or maybe the Arabic place-value system is intrinsically better?
You'd probably agree that introducing somebody via an obfuscatory
morass that *actively* kills off exploration of more advanced ideas is not
a good idea.
You now understand how computer scientists regard Basic.
Ronan
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