On 7/30/2011 11:30, stbenge wrote:
> great to just get a program up-and-running with gfx, input, etc., it's an
> absolutely horrible language in all other respects.

On that front, you could look into Tcl, or Java, or C#. If you're just 
learning, I'd say C# is an excellent introduction to the C-like languages. 
It has powerful development tools, "visual" builders to make input and forms 
easy, portable file I/O stuff, fairly portable (if older) windowing stuff, 
etc etc etc.  I.e., it has an excellent development environment, along with 
being a quite powerful language in the C family.

Tcl is really easy and portable with good I/O and graphics and stuff, but 
it's so unlike other languages that what you learn there isn't really going 
to apply to other systems as much, so it's probably not a real good first 
language.

I'd stay away from "Visual Basic" or "VB.NET" myself. That's a rapidly 
decaying body that the worms are still feasting on.

> The basics of C++ aren't so hard to learn,

It's annoying, tho, for a beginner. There are a large number of fairly 
senseless rules that just become frustrating fairly quickly, not even 
counting ho hard it can be to debug a fairly simple mistake like using an 
uninitialized variable.  It's like someone's learning to drive, and you give 
them an 18-wheeler and say "this'll do everything, as soon as you learn the 
14 different gears, and as long as you remember to hook up the air brakes 
before you drive."  I'd never start a student learning on their own with an 
unsafe language that doesn't tell them when they've made a mistake.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   How come I never get only one kudo?

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