Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!netnews.upenn.edu!eecae!cps3xx!rang From: rang@cpsin3.cps.msu.edu (Anton Rang) Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal Subject: Re: Where are the pascal jobs? Message-ID: <3182@cps3xx.UUCP> Date: 27 May 89 15:41:01 GMT References: <695@bbking.KSP.Unisys.COM> <6787@cbnews.ATT.COM> <14080@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> <4764@uoregon.uoregon.edu> > <6921@cbnews.ATT.COM> <6505@sdcsvax.UCSD.Edu> Sender: usenet@cps3xx.UUCP Reply-To: rang@cpswh.cps.msu.edu (Anton Rang) Distribution: usa Organization: Michigan State University, Computer Science Dept. Lines: 26 In-reply-to: hartung@amos.ling.ucsd.edu's message of 27 May 89 03:53:39 GMT I wasn't going to followup to this, but... I must admit that (based on my rather limited experience), people who learn Pascal as a first language tend(*) to write more readable code than those who learn C first. Maybe it's because Pascal encourages (not quite forces) people not to use cryptic code; maybe it's because instructors in Pascal courses put more emphasis on readability. This applies whether they're writing in C, Pascal, or whatever. It's possible to write readable C, and it's possible to write unreadable Pascal.... What businesses should do isn't worry about which languages somebody knows (as long as they know a similar language; Pascal/C are close, but C and Ada are quite different, for instance). They should take the time to have somebody look at the code people write.... Anton (*) -- I said TEND. This means that ON THE AVERAGE, of the people I've seen, Pascal-first people seem to write more readable code. But maybe it's all coincidence. +---------------------------+------------------------+ | Anton Rang (grad student) | "VMS Forever!" | | Michigan State University | rang@cpswh.cps.msu.edu | +---------------------------+------------------------+