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Interesting. I am starting to teach my siblings to code (they are with non-cs degree) and don't know where to start. Do you guys have any thoughts about this?

by inson 7y ago

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
arendtio 7y ago
I am sure there are people who disagree, but if someone really wants to learn about 'Coding and Computers', my choice would be Go. Let me explain: When I learned to program, QBasic was the first language I had contact with. I could make the computer beep but never achieved anything useful. Next, I learned HTML and was very happy about creating something. In school, I learned a little bit about Delphi and while GUI programming was cool, I preferred doing things on the web. A little time, later I came across PHP and was finally able to create real websites. So I coded a few projects with PHP and had my first struggles with arrays and the likes. Finally, I arrived at the stage where I wanted to learn a real programming language. So I learned C. C was great. I mean, it was also very complex, but finally, I had control over every bit. At that point, I started a CS degree and learned about pure languages like Smalltalk (Object Orientation) and Scheme (Functional Programming). Those languages were beautiful but felt like a step back in terms of practicality. When the JS frameworks poped-up I learned to use a few of them too and still use some of them today and while JS is a great language to create results, it doesn't feel to me like a language that teaches you how to write good code. Along the way, I encountered other languages like Java, C++, Python, Rust and those are certainly not bad languages, but I wouldn't recommend them for beginners. What makes Go so special, in my opinion, is that it reduces the complexity of C while not taking away its purism. It comes with all the tools you need (except a text editor) and encourages to write good code. Finally, it has good support for building web applications so finding a good use-case shouldn't be that hard. After all, good use-cases motivate students ;-) I am well aware, that one could certainly argue for every programming language to be the perfect candidate, so please remember that this is a personal opinion.
- inson 7y ago
  Thanks! That's an interesting perspective. Golang is getting more traction, maybe I will take this road. However, I don't want to intimidate first learners with difficulties of the language. All languages are similar in some way.

Interesting. I am starting to teach my siblings to code (they are with non-cs degree) and don't know where to start. Do you guys have any thoughts about this?

by inson 7y ago

Interesting. I am starting to teach my siblings to code (they are with non-cs degree) and don't know where to start. Do you guys have any thoughts about this?

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

arendtio 7y ago

I am sure there are people who disagree, but if someone really wants to learn about 'Coding and Computers', my choice would be Go. Let me explain: When I learned to program, QBasic was the first language I had contact with. I could make the computer beep but never achieved anything useful. Next, I learned HTML and was very happy about creating something. In school, I learned a little bit about Delphi and while GUI programming was cool, I preferred doing things on the web. A little time, later I came across PHP and was finally able to create real websites. So I coded a few projects with PHP and had my first struggles with arrays and the likes. Finally, I arrived at the stage where I wanted to learn a real programming language. So I learned C. C was great. I mean, it was also very complex, but finally, I had control over every bit. At that point, I started a CS degree and learned about pure languages like Smalltalk (Object Orientation) and Scheme (Functional Programming). Those languages were beautiful but felt like a step back in terms of practicality. When the JS frameworks poped-up I learned to use a few of them too and still use some of them today and while JS is a great language to create results, it doesn't feel to me like a language that teaches you how to write good code. Along the way, I encountered other languages like Java, C++, Python, Rust and those are certainly not bad languages, but I wouldn't recommend them for beginners. What makes Go so special, in my opinion, is that it reduces the complexity of C while not taking away its purism. It comes with all the tools you need (except a text editor) and encourages to write good code. Finally, it has good support for building web applications so finding a good use-case shouldn't be that hard. After all, good use-cases motivate students ;-) I am well aware, that one could certainly argue for every programming language to be the perfect candidate, so please remember that this is a personal opinion.

inson 7y ago
Thanks! That's an interesting perspective. Golang is getting more traction, maybe I will take this road. However, I don't want to intimidate first learners with difficulties of the language. All languages are similar in some way.