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> That led me from QBASIC -> Visual Basic -> PHP, of which I'm currently most proficient. I wish he had told me "C" or "C++"; my life would've taken a much diff
by doktrin 13y ago
> That led me from QBASIC -> Visual Basic -> PHP, of which I'm currently most proficient. I wish he had told me "C" or "C++"; my life would've taken a much different route.
I started with QBASIC as well. I was 12 years old in Japan in the late 90's, and I distinctly remember searching through stores for a C++ book in English. Never found one, and haven't used the language to this day - although I have worked with C.
I occasionally fantasize about what it would have been like to tackle such a comparatively complex language earlier in my journey. However, who knows how things would have turned out. C++ is by all appearances quite an intimidating beast even for diligent adults. Not inconceivable that it could have discouraged a kid who was approaching it solo.
QBASIC is fun. As a result, my earliest memories of programming are incredibly positive. That alone is worth quite a bit, and has had a significant impact on my life.
- raamdev 13y agoI never considered that perspective, that the difficulty (and dare I say, ugliness) of the language might've discouraged me early on. A prior job in Cambridge, MA paid for me to take any course I wanted at Harvard Extension School (a branch of the esteemed Harvard school) and I picked an intro C programming class. I learned a lot, but mostly I learned how challenging it was and how annoying programming in C could get (i.e., how easily I could become discouraged). I've always assumed that my difficulty becoming proficient with C/C++ was due to the fact that my brain started learning on BASIC, which wasn't nearly as "close to the machine" as C is. What I loved about that C programming class was how much I was learning about how the physical hardware worked (e.g., pointers; most people in the class seemed to hate pointers but I loved them).