Programming language for children

[Knapp]

> However the amount of times I see people trying to code in a higher level
> language, without understanding the pointer logic or basic memory allocation
> concepts being used in the back end leads me to believe that a solid
> foundation in C or a similar language is vital to anyone wanting to become a
> strong programmer. (See my previous post for an example).

I have to say that my knowledge of pointers has helped me to
understand the deeper levels of python!

> Whether or not this should come at the beginning of one's programming career
> is debatable.  My personal experience is that it is much easier to go from
> C/C++'s largely unprotected environment, into Java's (or Pythons, or PHPs,
> ect..) protected environment, than to do the reverse.

This is an echo of the ide or no ide, I am still not sure which is
correct at ether level.

> That's not to say it's the only way; that C is much more intimidating that
> Java/PHP is a very valid point.  This is my personal opinion as to which
> route is easier in the long run.  Just because it differs from yours doesn't
> make it "appalling".

Having read your argument about learning C first makes me want to say
that people should just learn Assembly first. This is not sarcasm. My
second language was 6502 assembly and that understanding greatly
helped me to understand C. At this point most of the real work being
done in any language is written in C. I know this is true of most of
the python libs and a ton of other stuff too. Sure there are other
languages done other ways, not here to argue that point. All this
comes down to a top down or bottom up approach to learning. What is
best seems to be dictated by personality type or learning type. Peopel
have often said that learning basic first is bad but I don't think it
ever hurt me. What is REALLY important is to document your programming
as you do it and in a way that it makes scene years latter! That is
the one lesson my computer teachers gave me that made any difference
to me. The rest I could have and mostly did teach myself.

-- 
Douglas E Knapp

Why do we live?