> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On Behalf Of MB Software Solutions > Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2007 12:05 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [NF] Suggestions for high school kid wanting to get into > programming > > My nephew saw a project I'm working on (in VFP9 of course!) and really > got excited about what I do. He wants to learn programming. I'm > looking for recommendations on where he might go to get a good > fundamental basis for programming (via websites or books). > > tia! > > -- > Michael J. Babcock, MCP > MB Software Solutions, LLC > http://mbsoftwaresolutions.com > http://fabmate.com > "Work smarter, not harder, with MBSS custom software solutions!" >
Michael: When my daughter wanted to learn a language, I had her learn FoxPro because there was a job for it working for her dad. I learned Assembler, BASIC and FORTRAN in school but never used them (BASIC was in its original form used to teach people FORTRAN). I learned CPM because of the Commodore 64. I learned COBOL, RPG, and Business BASIC for jobs that I took. I started my own business with QuickBasic and rewrote the application in FoxPro. I have been using FoxPro for 16 years now. When I learned FoxPro I thought it was the best language I have ever used. I still feel for what I am doing it still is the very best. It is easy to code, frameworks available, easy to implement at multiple sites, looks great and runs great. In the last three or four years I have had to add features to my applications that required third-party libraries. I have been using West Wind almost exclusively because they don't require registering with the OS. This adds complexity and quite a bit of code. Many of my applications pull XML from a web site. My FoxPro code requires West Wind to get the job done. Email notifications is another example. Python on the other hand requires 4 lines of code to do the same thing - natively. You may or may not have heard this but "Python just works". Native Python does everything and the syntax is very easy to use and understand. There are hundreds of frameworks that help target Python to a particular problem - like Dabo. You can do database access natively in Python, but Ed and Paul have developed a framework that makes it even easier. This doesn't apply to your nephew, but their framework makes it easy for FoxPro people to do Python. Dabo also wraps wxpython and provides a very consistent interface to the GUI - something us FoxPro people are used to. >From someone that has programmed in many languages for over 35 years I think Python is the best thing going right now. I would recommend it to beginners and experienced FoxPro programmers. It is like FoxPro and BASIC before it in that it reminds me of the ocean. You can bob around on the surface and be very happy. You can also delve into the depths of the water. Jeff Jeff Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] 623-582-0323 Fax 623-869-0675 --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts --- multipart/signed text/plain (text body -- kept) application/x-pkcs7-signature --- _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
