Acceptance of OpenOffice.org (was Re: Gov't , economics and technology (was Re: METROCAST BLOCKS RESIDENTIAL E-MAIL))

Python python at venix.com
Wed Mar 15 09:51:01 EST 2006


On Wed, 2006-03-15 at 08:27 -0500, Tom Buskey wrote:
> 
> 
> On 3/14/06, Kevin D. Clark <kclark at mtghouse.com> wrote:
>         I'll leave it to others to opine which language is best to
>         start with.
>         There seem to be lots of opinions.  But, one thing that I find
>         to be
>         really weird are CS programs that start with Java but never
>         teach C!
>         Ever!  I have a good friend who went through a program like
>         this.  He 
>         is very very smart, but he doesn't know a lot about C.  I find
>         this to
>         be very...weird.  Then again, he knows a more about Java than
>         I do.
> 
> 
> Well, there was a time when *everyone* learned BASIC.  Then the
> CS/Math guys learned Pascal.  Engineers learned Fortran.  Business
> learned Cobol. 

I'm a Python nut, so you may want to take this with a grain of salt, but
I believe that Python is becoming the language of choice for
Astronomers, Geographers, Genome????ers, etc who need to do some
programming as part of their profession, but do not see themselves as
programmers.

This course teaches software carpentry
http://www.third-bit.com/swc/
building things with software.  A heavy emphasis on tools.  The early
part of the course talks about test driven development, but the later
part of the course has not been changed to actually use TDD.

http://www.norvig.com/21-days.html
An essay by Norvig that suggests Scheme and Python as good candidates
for first language courses.

> 
> Further on for CS was a language class that taught lisp/scheme,
> snobol, C, and some other language I can't remember.
> 
> Some would find a CS program that started with C and never taught
> Pascal to be odd.
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
> bad measures.
>   - Daniel Webster
-- 
Lloyd Kvam
Venix Corp




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