[ale] Ale Inc.? (was RE: [ale] surviving sans work

[Chris Fowler]

I did a  lot of programming in QuickBasic.  In college though we spent a
year doign COBOL.  I do not use COBOL now nor have I used it since I
graduated.  But,  I do not regret going through it.  COBOL allowed me to
learn good structure, good techniques, and I had fun with it.  I then went
to shells and all the translator based languages.  I now know see and do not
want to look back.  There is so much more I can accomplish just as fast if I
were to write the programs in bash.

Chris


-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Krumwiede [mailto:krum at smyrnacable.net]
To: ale at ale.org
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2002 3:47 PM
To: Joseph A Knapka
Cc: ale at ale.org
Subject: RE: [ale] Ale Inc.? (was RE: [ale] surviving sans work


> And if it could, Java would be a bad choice, IMO (I say this with
> several years of Java development experience). It's a horrible
> language, well-marketed by Sun and hangers-on.

You really think so?  I initially learned to program with Apple BASIC,
GW-BASIC, and QuickBASIC.  After years of therapy, I was able to learn C and
C++.  I got terribly bogged down in the complexity of C++ and never became
proficient with it.  Then I learned Java, and my productivity took off.
Java does have its limitations, and I realize I need to put C and Perl and
some other things in my toolbox before every problem starts looking like a
nail, so to speak... but I would never call Java a "horrible" language.
First of all, it's easy to develop in.  You can knock out a simple and
functional program as easily as you can a shell script.  I also think it
would be a fantastic language for teaching -- far better than any kind of
BASIC or Pascal or whatever it is they're using now.  (I know GSU uses Java
for its "Introduction to Programming", but my girlfriend's prof teaches it
like it's called "Introduction to Java", which probably is just as bad as
teaching BASIC.)

What say ye to these charges? :-)


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sent to listmaster at ale dot org.