ShoeHorn writes: "Here is a good article (1st of a 4 part series), that introduces you to the Ruby language. If you are currently a programmer coming from the likes of C++, Perl, or Python, you will see some strong similarities (especially to Python)."
Re:Why learn another language?
by
StrawberryFrog
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· Score: 4, Insightful
Great post, but IMHO any 3-year CS course that aims to teach only one language is going about things completely the wrong way.
You should spend time in (for e.g.) a simple teaching language to start off, 1 mainstream procedural/OO language, one functional language, one scripting language and study briefly a sampling of languages of comercial or academic interest, and what makes them interesting or sucessfull.
IMHO when you learn your second language is when you start to 'get it' about what is an essential feature, and what is an accident of syntax or history in programming.
I wouldn't call knowing only 1 language a "the Computer Science Student mentality" because a CS graduate should definitely not know just one language - they should know how to pick up any language quickly, having had practice at it.
Slashdot Mirror
Great post, but IMHO any 3-year CS course that aims to teach only one language is going about things completely the wrong way.
You should spend time in (for e.g.) a simple teaching language to start off, 1 mainstream procedural/OO language, one functional language, one scripting language and study briefly a sampling of languages of comercial or academic interest, and what makes them interesting or sucessfull.
IMHO when you learn your second language is when you start to 'get it' about what is an essential feature, and what is an accident of syntax or history in programming.
I wouldn't call knowing only 1 language a "the Computer Science Student mentality" because a CS graduate should definitely not know just one language - they should know how to pick up any language quickly, having had practice at it.
My Karma: ran over your Dogma
StrawberryFrog