15 Aug
2001
15 Aug
'01
1:33 p.m.
Greg Lindsey skrev:
I'll have to look into MIPS asm some day. Could be a good use for the
DECstation.
Still, computer science students are not and have AFAIK never been the
intended target group for BASIC. BASIC was meant for the common man, it's like
the Mac amongst programming languages.
"Eric Chomko" wrote:
Also, assembly
language implies that you must first learn the computer
architecture to some degree. High-lievel languages have no such
prerequisite.
I'd tend to agree, in general. However, I think something like MIPS
assembly (such as that taught in CS courses at UIUC) might work well as a
"learners" language, and doesn't require knowing TOO much of the hardware
(aside from the registers / memory distinction, which could be taught using
a "file cabinet / cubbyholes" analogy). What about LOGO? I know it was touted as the next big
beginner's language
in the late '80s, but never really took off...
I think LOGO was rather touted as a children's language. The turtle is very
nice for the first few minutes, but it provides a rather limited outlook on
programming.
But, yeah, I'd say BASIC is still a pretty good
language to see if someone
can "get" programming -- provided that someone moves to a structured
language quickly if he or she wishes, instead of getting into bad
programming habits (as I did for a while).
But then is Pascal that bad?
Whenever I think of BASIC, and I don't think this applies only to me, I think
of a cosy 40-column TV screen on a micro with 64 k of addressable memory.
Other languages just don't seem as cosy. Must be because of the environment.
If the eight-bitters had booted into Pascal, perhaps things would have looked
differently?
The Swedish school computer COMPIS used COMAL, which is some distant relative
to BASIC, I think. Haven't heard much about COMAL since the COMPIS was
retired, though. =/
I might add that I've only once programmed Pascal, and that was when taking a
test. It seemed nicer than C, though. I passed the test, too. =)
--
En ligne avec Thor 2.6a.
Amiga 4000/040 25MHz/56MB/20GB RetinaBLTZ3/VLab/FastlaneZ3/Ariadne/Toccata