to code or not to code?

[Jim]

Two more of my pennies...

Perl claims that its biggest asset is that there is no one best way to
accomplish anything.  Unfortunately, that is also its biggest flaw. 
Because there are so many ways to accomplish the same task with Perl, it
becomes extremely obfuscated.  Surprisingly, Perl coders are "proud" of
the fact that they can accomplish a task with code so confusing that a
majority of coders can't understand.

The best solution to starting your coding career, imho, is to learn OOP
and then Python/C++.  It is far easier to understand most non-oop languages
with a background in oop than it is for a non-oop coder to understand
Python or C++.

On Mon, 24 Jul 2000, you wrote:
> Now my two cents :-) I started with Perl, and recomend starting with
> scripting. Perl is robust and quite capable of doing just about anything
> with its modules. I mean I learned a smidgit of C and Java after perl, and
> I'm back to pretty much perl for everything again. Its strong, capable,
> quick, and very easy if you ask me. It makes my job as an admin SO much
> easier and it also helps at home too (home automation, cd ripping,
> etc.) Whoops, I got off topic. The biggest part about Perl is that it
> gives you a good look at syntax, and gives you a good idea of what a
> program needs to run, etc.
> 
> my two cents
> 
> _______________
> Jonathan Furrer
> jonny@jofu.com
> http://www.jofu.com/
> 
> On Mon, 24 Jul 2000, Jim wrote:
> 
> > Python is easier to deal with if you have a fundamental understanding of
> > object oriented programming.  It is based on OOP.  Perl, on the other
> > hand, is based on the need to extract data and create reports.  I guess
> > the same statements can be made about C++ vs C.
> > 
> > The bottom line is that the concepts of objects, inheritance,
> > polymorphism, etc. are a bit much for a newbie to deal with unless that
> > newbie builds his programming foundation on the OOP concepts.  Absent that
> > effort to understand OOP, Perl and/or C are much easier to begin
> > programming with.
> > 
> > These, of course, are just my opinions.
> > 
> > On Mon, 24 Jul 2000, you
> > wrote: > Python is probably supported stronger than what you might need it
> > to be. I'd > recommend Python to start with, especially for a newbie, and
> > then step up to > the plate w/perl.  >  > ... > 
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Don Harrop [mailto:don@nis4u.com]
> > > > Sent: Monday, July 24, 2000 12:40 PM
> > > > To: plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> > > > Subject: to code or not to code?
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > I was wondering if I could get some feedback on some 
> > > > scripting / programming
> > > > languages to jump into for a newbie coder.  Perl seems like a 
> > > > good choice
> > > > because everybody has it and there's tons of support.  You 
> > > > can either use it
> > > > for web page development or linux admin stuff.  I don't know 
> > > > if you can
> > > > compile it to a single exacutable under DOS/WIN stuff though. 
> > > >  That would be
> > > > cool.  I've listened to a few people on the list talk about 
> > > > python and it
> > > > sounds good but it doesn't seem to have the same amount of 
> > > > support as Perl
> > > > does.  C++ would be cool but I don't want to have to compile 
> > > > everything
> > > > before I can run it.  It might be overkill for a newbie.  :-) 
> > > >  Links on
> > > > where to go to learn the code would be nice too...
> > > > 
> > > > Don
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > Plug-discuss mailing list  -  Plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> > > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Plug-discuss mailing list  -  Plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> > -- 
> > Jim
> > 
> > Zope is cool!
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Plug-discuss mailing list  -  Plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> > 
> 
> 
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-- 
Jim

Zope is cool!