I don't think that is true, either the long or the short version. In general, knowing bad programming helps you appreciate good programming when you see it; the people for whom this is not true would have trouble learning good programming regardless. IMO.
On Sun, Dec 2, 2012 at 1:25 AM, R.E. Boss <r.e.b...@planet.nl> wrote: > http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/edsgerdijk201164.html > > or, as I heard him say much shorter: "Basic ruins your life". > > > R.E. Boss > > > > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- > > Van: programming-boun...@forums.jsoftware.com [mailto: > programming-boun...@forums.jsoftware.com] Namens Boyko > > Bantchev > > Verzonden: zondag 2 december 2012 0:10 > > Aan: programm...@jsoftware.com > > Onderwerp: Re: [Jprogramming] @: and capped fork > > > > On 1 December 2012 16:17, Ian Clark <earthspo...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > A "training wheels" form of J, tailored to people who know BASIC, > > > would be so easy to write. > > > > Not necessarily. A BASIC thinking can be so different that hardly > > any tailoring could possibly exist as a bridge to J. > > > > Here is a story. > > > > True BASIC is the modern realization of Kemeny & Kurtz's original > > BASIC. The product is priced at $500. Its web site says that > > 'thousands of schools, colleges, corporations, and laboratories > > use True BASIC'. Like the original BASIC, True BASIC's principal > > target area of application is education. > > > > But … there are no first-class Boolean values in this language, > > or anything in their place. There are no Boolean (or equivalent) > > constants. Boolean expressions can only be used as conditions in > > statements like IF and DO WHILE, but they are not supposed to have > > values. The outcome of Boolean expressions cannot be stored in a > > variable, passed as an argument or returned from a function. > > > > Among other things said of this BASIC is that 'it helps … teach the > > foundational principles of logic'. Yet, in the tutorials and other > > teaching and learning aids one never finds problems that explicitly > > involve logic. The latter is no surprise: logical calculations are > > a hard thing to do without logical values. > > > > 'True BASIC' programmers don't even realize that not having a form > > of Boolean in the language is a limitation. This is a world with > > almost no common points with the expression-based world of J. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
