🚀 go-pugleaf

Rene Guillas (rguillas@NRCan.gc.CA) writes:
<snip>
> spanish dictionary.  It won't make any sense at all.  To use BASIC is like common 
>english... with exceptions.   Many people(who havn't used basic before) can look at a 
>basic printout and follow it to a certain extent. BASIC is the language for beginners.
>(And is very logical...contrary to your above comments, it just has to be structured 
>properly)

Whoa, wait up.  This last statement (slipped in between (parentheses)) is a
significant one.  The problem with BASIC is that structure is not really
_required_ in any of the implementations I have seen.  Even with "structured
BASIC" an extrodinary amount of effort is required to enforce the principles
of structure.

When you give up learning proper program design in favour of a quick startup,
you are guilty of favouring short-term gratification over long-term gain.
Admittedly, good instructional languages such as Pascal suffer many of the
same shortfalls as BASIC, but Pascal and friends enforce and encourage good
design much better.

If you are still not convinced, have you noticed the similarities between
Pascal and BASIC, and between Pascal and C?  I think Pascal is a good learning
language that is not too difficult to understand, and provides a stepping
stone to professional languages.

Go ahead and disagree; the question of which language is best for education,
etc. has always been a "holy war" kind of issue.
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