Star a écrit : > MIT's freshman survey, EECS 1 is taught in Python and Scheme, soon to be > just Python.
they should keep scheme or replace it with another (statically typed ?) functional language IMHO. <OT> please do the world (or at least usenet and mailing lists users) a favour : learn to answer properly !-) 1/ don't top-post 2/ only keep from the post you're answering waht you're answering to 3/ if possible, answer to the right post (given the content of your post, you should have answered to the OP, not to me) Sorry to be the annoying dude here... </OT> > -Star > > On Wed, 25 Jul 2007, Bruno Desthuilliers wrote: > >> Omari Norman a écrit : >>> On Mon, Jul 23, 2007 at 10:48:10PM -0700, Paul Rubin wrote: >>> >>> >>>> If you're having trouble with Python because you're new at >>>> programming, I can sympathize--I don't think it's the most >>>> beginner-friendly of languages despite the efforts in that direction >>>> by the designers. >>> >>> >>> Just curious--what language would you recommend as most >>> beginner-friendly? >> >> C ?-) >> >> (sorry, just kidding.) >> >>> My previous programming experience was with BASIC--and I think it is >>> true that BASIC will, in many ways, rot your brain. >> >> So will Java. >> >> I learned programming with Hypertalk (MacIntosh's Hypercard scripting >> language, which more or less gave birth to AppleTalk), then RealBasic >> (Mac's Better VB-like), then VB, then Java, then C, then bits of Pascal, >> then Python, and this is where I started to see the light. But I had >> hard time unlearning all those java-ish anal-retentive stupidities and >> arbitrary overcomplexifications before I really enjoyed Python. Playing >> with Lisp (Common Lisp and Scheme) and Smalltalk helped getting rid of >> mental pollution wrt/ declarative static typing. To be honest, playing >> with Haskell and O'Caml also helped me understanding that static typing >> is not necessarily bad by itself. >> >>> I had used QBasic >>> and, later, a little VBA and some PHP. It took some time to unlearn some >>> bad things (object orientation in VBA seems to be mostly a hack, for >>> example, while PHP seems to be a big hack generally) >> >> Well... this is not exactly a scoop !-) >> >>> but it seems to me >>> that Python helped me learn my first modern programming language. >>> >>> >>>> I think Python is not used in university programs very much. Look for >>>> one that uses SICP (Scheme) or CTM (Mozart/Oz) or a functional >>>> language like Haskell, in preference to the ones that use Java (the >>>> Cobol of the 1990's). With some reasonable experience in Scheme or >>>> Mozart or Haskell, plus a Python manual, you'll be well on your way. >>> >>> >>> I had heard of these languages, but learning them is a bit discouraging >>> because (Java excepted) they don't seem to get much practical use. >> >> Before considering practical use (FWIW, Python was pretty far from >> mainstream 7 year ago), you should ask yourself how learning one of >> these languages will affect the way you thing about programming. While >> mostly in the imperative/OO camp, Python stole quite a lot from >> functional languages, and this is obviously a GoodThing(tm). >> >> My 2 cents >> -- >> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list >> -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list