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This article argues at considerable length that an "educational" language targeting complete novices should choose a keyword-heavy syntax like Wirth's Modula 2
by zozbot234 2y ago
This article argues at considerable length that an "educational" language targeting complete novices should choose a keyword-heavy syntax like Wirth's Modula 2 as opposed to a terser one like C, prior to discussing more esoteric topics like structural editing, "frame"-like graphical representations of high-level syntax and such. Is there any significant evidence that the keyword-heavy syntax style may be easier to understand for novice coders, or is this just a matter of subjective preference?
- 082349872349872 2y agoA keyword-heavy syntax ought to make it easier to produce helpful error messages (I'm a fan of very terse syntax, but do admit that when you mess up with it, you probably typed something that's also syntactically, and often even semantically, valid — so you don't get as much support from the machine as a novice might like) > "the experienced user will usually know what's wrong" —KLT
- kmoser 2y ago> Is there any significant evidence that the keyword-heavy syntax style may be easier to understand for novice coders, or is this just a matter of subjective preference? I'm not sure how you'd subjectively measure that. Also, I don't think it's just the keyword-heavy syntax of language like PASCAL or Modula-2 that make them easier to learn than, say, C/C++. They also discourage quirky, terse expressions (favorites of advanced C/C++ devs) that can be difficult for beginners to understand. Beginners face an uphill battle: not only are they being introduced to abstract concepts like data structures and flow control, but they have to deal with the language syntax. You can't do much to alleviate the former, but you can make the latter a bit easier by picking a language with a more straightforward, plain syntax.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]