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From: userAKDU@mts.ucs.UAlberta.CA (Al Dunbar)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: a secular response to the religious conflict
Message-ID: <2004@mts.ucs.UAlberta.CA>
Date: 12 Dec 90 03:43:18 GMT
References: <27304.27610742@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> <6910@uceng.UC.EDU> <14699@smoke.brl.mil>
Organization: MTS Univ of Alberta
Lines: 31

In article <14699@smoke.brl.mil>, gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) writes:
>In article <6910@uceng.UC.EDU> dmocsny@minerva.che.uc.edu (Daniel Mocsny) writes:
>>I have been trying to find and study all books which attempt to
>>present C language programming, or C program examples, to scientists
>>and engineers who are likely to have a background in FORTRAN.
>
>The absolutely best C tutorial for already experienced programmers
>who don't know C (are there any left?) is Kernighan and Ritchie's
>"The C Programming Language"; in most cases the Second Edition is
>preferred.
>
>C is so much more suited to general applications than Fortran that
>limiting one's attention to science/engineering applications would
>produce a quite imperfect understanding of how to exploit the language.
 
Limiting one's attention to science/engineering applications
may indeed hinder one's development as a C programmer. The goals
of those involved in such applications is usually more involved
with solving problems in those areas than with contemplating
the beauty of a three line recursive algorithm for calculating
Postal codes (i.e. Canadian ZIP code). Pardon the sarcasm,
but aren't a lot of afficionados trying to tell Fortran users
that C is better for what they want to do? If so, then why is it
not possible to impart this knowledge without bringing in what
is, to them, extraneous?
 
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Al Dunbar          |
Edmonton, Alberta  |  "this mind left intentionally blank"
CANADA             |          - Manuel Writer
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