Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!rutgers!bellcore!faline!sabre!gamma!pyuxp!rruxa!gwl
From: gwl@rruxa.UUCP (George W. Leach)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: first language
Message-ID: <290@rruxa.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 20-Aug-87 12:25:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: rruxa.290
Posted: Thu Aug 20 12:25:08 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 22-Aug-87 16:03:16 EDT
References: <405@ndsuvax.UUCP> <1010@argus.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research
Lines: 38
Summary: readable languages?

In article <1010@argus.UUCP>, ken@argus.UUCP writes:
> 
> I'd like to recommend the REXX language for beginners.  It's got
> a very simple data structure, pascal like syntax, and was designed
> from the beginning to be a readable language, unlike C and Lisp.
> 

     I wasn't aware that it was the language that dictated readability.
Silly me.  I guess it is beyond the control of the programmer to ensure
readability, no matter which language the program is implemented in.

     But seriously, the language that a beginner should use must not
overwhelm he or she with details.  The idea is to use a simple tool
to learn the fundamentals of problem solving with computers, not to
learn all of the particulars of a given language's syntax.  In my
particular case I first programmed in BASIC in a course I took in
high school.  I have never used it since then, but it served the
intended purpose.  The language was simple enough that the bulk of
the course was devoted to problem solving with the simple tool.

> 
> Kenneth Ng: Post office: NJIT - CCCC, Newark New Jersey  07102
> uucp !ihnp4!allegra!bellcore!argus!ken *** NOT ken@bellcore.uucp ***
> bitnet(prefered) ken@orion.bitnet


George W. Leach

Bell Communications Research      New Jersey Institute of Technology 
444 Hoes Lane       4A-1129       Computer & Information Sciences Dept.
Piscataway,  New Jersey   08854   Newark, New Jersey   07102
(201) 699-8639

UUCP:  ..!bellcore!indra!reggie
ARPA:  reggie%njit-eies.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA

From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere
Dr. Seuss "One fish two fish red fish blue fish"