Re: [Sheflug] getting pascal running linux?

[Richard Lowe <nospam [at] btinternet.com>]

* Stephen J. Turnbull (turnbull [at] sk.tsukuba.ac.jp) wrote:
> >>>>> "Will" == Will Newton <will [at] misconception.org.uk> writes:
> 
>     Will> due to Pascal being rather outdated (it's still seen as a
>     Will> good language to teach programming, but no-one uses it,
>     Will> figure that one out...)
> 
> I think it's only considered "good for teaching" because it's so
> restrictive.  The strange syntax (semicolon is a separator, not a
> terminator; pass by value and and pass by reference are distinguished
> by the "var" keyword, etc) actually makes it hard to teach (at least
> to Japanese students ;-) in my experience.
>

It isnt much fun to be taught either :)
I guess people use Delphi. so theres Object Pascal still in use.

I seem to recall that this years first years, are being taught VB
instead of Pascal, But personally I dont see that as much of an
improvement.

> If I were choosing a language to teach novices in, I'd use either a
> Lisp (Scheme for simplicity or Emacs Lisp because of the immediate
> applicability) or Python (Perl's syntax is more mainline, but it's
> just too grody.

I like the look of ruby, although I've only had a quick glance.
It seems like a simple language to teach and learn.
But actually useful.

I've haven't used Lisp that much. although I keep meaning to :)
I was planning on learning Python at some point.
but then I saw ruby, and it just seems.... nicer to me :)

I also really like ferite (http://www.ferite.org |
http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/ferite/), but thats more of a cheap
plug :)

Although... it may be ok for teaching, now I think about it a bit more.
(when it's been released, and documented of course :) ).

--
|*-------------------=[ Richard Lowe ]=------------------*|
| richlowe [at] btinternet.com                   UIN: 74724348 |           
|*-------------------------------------------------------*|
| Europe has the Kilogram and the Meter.                  |
| America has the Pound and the Inch.                     |
| Childrens TV has the Elephant and the Double Decker Bus |
|*-------------------------------------------------------*|
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheffield Linux User's Group - http://www.sheflug.co.uk
To unsubscribe from this list send mail to
- <sheflug-request [at] vuw.ac.nz> - with the word 
 "unsubscribe" in the body of the message. 

  GNU the choice of a complete generation.