On 12/17/2010 5:10 AM, Parshwa Murdia wrote:
You say correctly, 'The "best" programming language, is the one you feel
most comfortable with, obviously.' As I am new and starting just, so I guess (with all
the suggestions I get and from searching too) that either
Python or C language would be a good start. Pascal is now
less used.
The thing to keep in mind here is what is the purpose of the
language you're choosing for this step in your journey. You are
clearly not going to be writing production software for some time.
You are choosing a language that will serve as a canvas for
early-stages learning. At this point, you probably want to evaluate
your tools in terms of their pedagogic advantages, rather than
practical advantages for implementing working production software.
Keep in mind that many first year programming / computing science
classes use toy languages - purposely kept small to illustrate a few
programming concepts without distracting you with other concepts.
IMHO, a first learning language should introduce concepts including:
- Variables
- Typing of variables (strong typing)
- Arrays
- Data structures
- Boolean logic expressions
- Flow control and looping (if, then, else ; while ; for,to)
- Procedure and / or function calls
- Formal parameters vs. actual parameters
- Recursion
- Equivalence of recursion and iteration
- Compilation
- Compile-time vs. Run-time errors
A first programming language should avoid concepts like:
- Pointers (at least in the C conception of them, breaking the
typing system)
- Dynamic typing
- Polymorphism
- Inheritance
That in mind, my suggestion for a first language would generally be
more similar to Pascal or Modula-2 than C, Python, C++, Java,...
However, I agree with you that
programing principles remain the same for any language,
indeed.
Principles remain the same for particular collections of languages.
The principles at play in functional languages (LISP, Prolog,...)
are different than those of procedural languages (Pascal, Modula-2,
C) which are different still from OO languages (C++, Java,
SmallTalk, Python) - though OO shares more with procedural than
functional languages.
--
Regards,
Parshwa Murdia