I still like Pascal for teaching

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Post #267,629 by drewk 9/15/06 9:17:08 AM Reply	I still like Pascal for teaching That's what it was designed for, after all. I still like the idea of a 'main' at the top that pretty much tells you what it does. === Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link\|http://DocHope.com\|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats]. [link\|http://DocHope.com\|http://DocHope.com]
Post #267,639 by Andrew Grygus 9/15/06 11:07:45 AM Reply	The "Advanced C " columnist in Computer Languages . . . . . in the next to last issue when they knew the magazine was going to cease publication admitted "I teach C, that's what people want, but when I program for a client I do it in Pascal. Why? A year later when the client wants a change, if it's in C I can stare at the code all day and still not be sure what it does. If it's in Pascal I know exactly what it does in just a few minutes." Of course "Standard Pascal" is not very useful. Sometimes typecasting really is needed, and pointers often, but extended Pascals like Borland's provide all these things - you only need to use them when you really need to. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #267,654 by tuberculosis 9/15/06 12:46:14 PM Reply	Ick - FWIW they're trying to get Squeak on the $100 PC Which is good because it will give kids a simulation environment where they can just [link\|http://squeakland.org\|draw stuff], give the drawings behaviors, and see how things work. Plus, there's a new authoring environment called [link\|http://futureofthebook.org/index.php?frame=http%3A//futureofthebook.org/projects/\|Sophie] that will be released soon. And some parents I know are having great success teaching their kids programming with [link\|http://www.amazon.com/Squeak-Programming-Robots-Technology-Action/dp/1590594916\|Learn Programming With Robots], which I think is going to be the big draw for kids. Robots. Lego mindstorms kits and such. [link\|http://www.blackbagops.net\|Black Bag Operations Log] [link\|http://www.objectiveclips.com\|Artificial Intelligence] [link\|http://www.badpage.info/seaside/html\|Scrutinizer]

'Why Johnny can't code' - by er, David Brin. In Salon. - (Ashton) - (35) - Sept. 14, 2006, 08:40:35 PM EDT

whats wrong with asembler? - (boxley) - Sept. 14, 2006, 08:51:03 PM EDT

Cute, but... - (admin) - (17) - Sept. 14, 2006, 11:22:49 PM EDT

Novices don't know Linux - (warmachine) - (16) - Sept. 15, 2006, 05:32:51 AM EDT

Novices didn't know the Atari either - (admin) - (11) - Sept. 15, 2006, 07:58:26 AM EDT

Most novices have Windows but not Linux - (warmachine) - (10) - Sept. 15, 2006, 09:18:29 AM EDT

Live CDs are nice. - (admin) - (9) - Sept. 15, 2006, 10:08:11 AM EDT

Why bother with a different OS to learn basic programming? - (warmachine) - (8) - Sept. 15, 2006, 11:42:37 AM EDT

What's there to learn? - (admin) - (7) - Sept. 15, 2006, 11:49:00 AM EDT

How to write a DB app with front end - (warmachine) - (3) - Sept. 15, 2006, 12:22:22 PM EDT

Not a kid. - (admin) - (2) - Sept. 15, 2006, 12:31:50 PM EDT

Anything with a GUI is *already* a game -NT - (drewk) - Sept. 15, 2006, 12:42:35 PM EDT

So, he was using a Windows environment? -NT - (warmachine) - Sept. 15, 2006, 12:54:39 PM EDT

Had same idea, but thought of Cygwin - (jb4) - (2) - Sept. 23, 2006, 01:07:27 PM EDT

Solving the wrong problem - (drewk) - (1) - Sept. 23, 2006, 03:16:43 PM EDT

Point taken... - (jb4) - Sept. 25, 2006, 08:34:41 AM EDT

A beginner's programming language will have to be on YouTube - (Another Scott) - (3) - Sept. 15, 2006, 08:22:49 AM EDT

My son got started because of video games - (admin) - Sept. 15, 2006, 08:37:09 AM EDT

(Almost) same here - (drewk) - Sept. 15, 2006, 09:16:18 AM EDT

Robots - Mindstorm, etc - (tuberculosis) - Sept. 15, 2006, 12:48:00 PM EDT

BASIC???? - I shudder! - (Andrew Grygus) - (8) - Sept. 14, 2006, 11:23:16 PM EDT

BASIC is not that bad. - (static) - Sept. 14, 2006, 11:27:57 PM EDT

How wonderfully biased you are... - (admin) - (3) - Sept. 14, 2006, 11:36:08 PM EDT

The first language I learned was BASIC - and . . . - (Andrew Grygus) - (2) - Sept. 15, 2006, 12:00:31 AM EDT

Thus proving my point. - (admin) - (1) - Sept. 15, 2006, 12:09:48 AM EDT

Well that it can . . . if you're paying attention. -NT - (Andrew Grygus) - Sept. 15, 2006, 12:15:57 AM EDT

I started on BASIC as well - (tuberculosis) - (2) - Sept. 15, 2006, 12:34:55 AM EDT

I used to do the same, as an adult :-) -NT - (boxley) - Sept. 15, 2006, 09:11:38 PM EDT

And I, too...although it was called FOCAL on a PDP-8 - (jb4) - Sept. 23, 2006, 01:10:45 PM EDT

Just use some old version of Delphi or VB - (warmachine) - (1) - Sept. 15, 2006, 02:49:07 AM EDT

same here - (jbrabeck) - Sept. 15, 2006, 08:26:24 AM EDT

PHP - (JayMehaffey) - (3) - Sept. 15, 2006, 09:16:28 AM EDT

I still like Pascal for teaching - (drewk) - (2) - Sept. 15, 2006, 09:17:08 AM EDT

The "Advanced C " columnist in Computer Languages . . . - (Andrew Grygus) - Sept. 15, 2006, 11:07:45 AM EDT

Ick - FWIW they're trying to get Squeak on the $100 PC - (tuberculosis) - Sept. 15, 2006, 12:46:14 PM EDT

You just need to know where to look - (Arkadiy) - Sept. 18, 2006, 12:03:33 PM EDT

Always wook on da bwight side of Wife!
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