🚀 go-pugleaf

SDENARO@vm.poly.edu writes:
>In article <7230@skye.ed.ac.uk>
>ken@aiai.ed.ac.uk (Ken Johnson) writes:
>>In article <16846BBA1.SDENARO@vm.poly.edu> SDENARO@vm.poly.edu writes:
>>
>>#  I installed the DOS logo from CHER.MIT.EDU on the PC of a 11 year old
>>#  kid from Brooklyn.  [...] I will start him on Pascal in a year or two.
>>
>>Erm, why?
>>
>The only options I have seen are Pascal and BASIC. BASIC is a language that
>does a great diservice to the student. I have recived mail from a few people
>saying that I should teach him LISP, Scheme, ms Visual BASIC and Oberon.
> 
>I have never heard of scheme or Oberon. I don't like LISP or BASIC. And, lest
>we forget, this is for an 11 year old. LISP is not easy. I have yet to meet
>an 11 year old AI researcher.

Scheme is a dialect of LISP that is elegant and very suitable for
education.  LISP may not be easy, but neither is Logo, if you look at
things that way.  Computer programming is not "easy".  But if it is
fun, a kid will learn.  LISP is certainly easier than Pascal, and it's
also more fun, IMHO.

There is no ideal set order to learning languages, of course.  I was
introduced to Logo in 5th grade, but that was after I had already
learned 6502 aseembly language, and a little BASIC.  6502 assembly was
the first language I did much real programming in, and though it may
be considered "hard" on an objective level, it was fun, so I learned.
After that, I worked in both Logo and AppleSoft BASIC concurrently,
and I think each of them was equally valuable to me.

>I think Pascal is a nice language. It is easy to learn; and, if nothing else,
>It show that everyone must put up with stupid rules in order to get a job
>done.

These days, I program in QuickBASIC, perl, C, Scheme, and Intel
assembly, in about that order.  I don't have Logo anymore, but I do
have access to Pascal and try to avoid it as much as possible.  You
don't like BASIC, I don't like Pascal; each person's tastes are
different.

My advice, let the kid stick with Logo as long as he's progressing
with it.  When he sees another language he wants to learn, he will.
If you want to specifically introduce him to other languages, Scheme
and BASIC are the most 'fun' and probably the best choices, but one
can never tell in advance what will be best for him.

  --  Cos (Ofer Inbar)  --  cos@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu
  --  WBRS (BRiS)  --  WBRS@binah.cc.brandeis.edu  WBRS@brandeis.bitnet
  "Good literature is about Love and War."
  "Junk fiction is about Sex and Violence."