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I think traditionally, it is considered better to learn it the hardway first. It teaches you more about the progression of thought through which innovation lea
by fnid 17y ago
I think traditionally, it is considered better to learn it the hardway first. It teaches you more about the progression of thought through which innovation leads and provides a better understanding of the content.
That's why we learn Reimann Sums before we learn how to do the little tricks in calculus.
There has also been a lot of discussion lately about how higher level languages are "dumming down" programmers. Colleges who have switched to Java for example are producing graduates that are having more difficult times in the "real world."
- sarahmei 17y agoTotal nonsense. "it is considered better to learn it the hardway[sic] first" Blatantly false. For a certain narrow class of people, this is the best way to learn. There are hundreds of other ways, and some of the people who have a different preferred style would make great programmers. "Colleges who have switched to Java for example are producing graduates that are having more difficult times in the "real world."" Also blatantly false. CS programs have always churned out a lot of mediocre programmers, a handful of good ones, and a few brilliant ones. Only the language has changed.
- philwelch 17y agoWhich is ironic because colleges switched to Java because Java is used in the "real world". Of course, Java with all its class-and-interface scaffolding adds too much accidental complexity too. It's not a matter of higher-level, it's a matter of verbose. Scheme is a high-level language but it's still "the hard way" in a very important sense.