🚀 go-pugleaf

On 16 Mar 1996, Reed Mangino wrote:

> I don't know if my situation is strange but I would like to know if I am 
> alone.  I have been coding in C++ for about 3 years now.  I started with 
> 2 C++/OOP classes (intro and advanced).  I feel pretty comfortable with 
> C++.  BUT, I got a job with a company that ONLY codes in C.  I didn't 
> think that this was a big deal but I have been finding out that it isn't 
> as easy as I thought to learn straight C after using C++ so much.
> 
> Is this strange?

  Not at all.  The paradigm is completely different.

> I would very much like any type of feedback you might want to share with 
> me.  If you feel like flaming me because you think I am an idiot (which 
> might be the case in this instance) I do have a 3.9/4.0 GPA (which 
> doesn't mean I am smart, it means that I am dedicated).  I just want to 
> hear what experienced programmers think I should do:  What is the fastest 
> way to get up to speed?  Are there texts on going from C++ to C?

  There are a zillion texts for going from C to C++ -- just read them 
from finish to start. :-).  Seriously, though, pick up Kernighan and 
Ritchie's book _The_C_Programming_Language_ or a similar C-only text and 
read it carefully.  Cross-reference it with any existing code in the shop 
you're working in.  And give yourself a while before the paradigm shift 
occurs in your head.  I suffered the reverse trauma when, as a fledgling 
programmer with APPLESOFT BASIC, Pascal, and a little C under my belt I 
was exposed to one functional language (Miranda), one logical one 
(Prolog) and one OO one (Smalltalk) in one semester.

[emailed and submitted for posting]

/**James Robinson***********************            
  "An important goal of almost every graphics program is to draw pictures on
 the screen."    -- Neider, Davis & Woo, _OpenGL_Programming_Guide_, Chapter 10
                                       *************james-robinson@uiowa.edu**/