[geeks] Introductory programming language?

[Jonathan Groll]

On Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:40:04 -0500 (CDT), Jonathan Patschke <jp at celestrion.net> wrote:
> I'd strongly recommend against Ruby, which I think teaches extremely poor
> habits.  The language is very rich and powerful; however, a lot of the
> Ruby code I've seen written by people for whom it was an early language
> doesn't seem to understand the difference in complexity of swinging around
> integers versus globs of XML.  This is great if you have to swing around
> globs of XML, but it doesn't encourage thinking about a sleeker solution.
> 
> Likewise, I'd suggest against Java for the same reasons.  I love the
> language and use it quite a bit, but it's an awful choice for a first
> language.

Yerk. Confessing love for Java for me would be a bit strong. Of late,
I want to run a mile when I see a bean, or a factory, or a method
called checkOnlyCollAuthWithAlternatePayer (taken from the code I've
got on my screen at the momemnt!). But hey, it's a $WORK language.

Ruby is for me a fun language. I'll give you that in many ways the
language is still immature and not perfect, and unfortuantely it is
associated with good looking rock star web programmers armed with
macbooks and skateboards, but the natural language syntax sugar! That,
plus the cleverness of frameworks that default sensibly without XML
config, and don't require you to build a program out of complex
assemblies and .ears and things is such a relief! To be fair I've
never had much need to indulge in XML abuse in ruby, and find the
example strange because, if anything, Ruby programmers prefer YAML and
JSON.

I guess it depends on the OP's sisters motivation - to get a job as a
programmer? In that case probably all of our suggestions are wrong and
she'll need to learn a language based on what the market is looking
for. If the motivation is fun or intellectual curiosity, or she just
wants to get something done it might be another story. Possibly
Haskell is what is needed as a compromise - it looks to be something
that is in high demand and is fun too.

> If she's musically-inclined, Supercollider (http://supercollider.sf.net)
> is tons of fun, even if the syntax is atrocious.

Thanks for the tip!

Cheers,
Jonathan
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