In article <3b0a49fc@news.povray.org> , Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg>  wrote:

>   Many novice programmers have the funny misconception that they just
> learn how to write programs with a programming language and they can
> just right away write a Quake clone from the scratch.
>   Programming is just a tool. Knowing the syntax of a programming language
> doesn't give you automatically the knowledge to make big programs.

I agree with all you said, but you didn't provide much help :-)

And C/C++ is a very advanced tool.  It is not the best way to learn
programming this way, especially if you just want to do it for fun or as a
hobby.  As you say, there is far more to programming than just learning the
syntax.  You need to learn how to put your ideas into a certain structure,
from an abstract idea into a practical implementation.  This is the hardest
to learn, and even after years you will continue learn more.  C/C++ will not
give you a fast start with this because it allows far more freedom than any
beginner can comprehend without experience.  This is in particular true when
it comes to debugging.

I don't want to suggest Basic because the main thing out there is Visual
Basic and it has little to do with the original idea of Basic (to be easy to
learn and use by novice programmers).   While a classical late 1980s
home-computer basic interpreter would probably be best, the hardware is a
bit outdated...

Pascal is still one of the most viable alternatives, and for PCs Borland's
Turbo Pascal (especially the DOS version) has easy and fast integration of
graphics.  As a language it is much "cleaner" than C/C++, and it enforces
more structure and structured thinking about a program.  On the other hand
it is fully compiled and as fast as C/C++, but easier to learn and debug,
especially without a human tutor.  Regarding books and other information,
there should be plenty in your local library.  Especially good books about
C/C++ are very expensive and hard to find in libraries...

Last but not least, as Warp said, the programming language is just a "tool",
and if you know how to use one tool it is very easy to learn how to use
another.  For learning how to use a class of tools you should really not
pick the most advanced tool out there - it will be a lot of frustration and
very little "fun" if you do so!


    Thorsten


____________________________________________________
Thorsten Froehlich, Duisburg, Germany
e-mail: tho### [at] trfde

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