++hardburn

The problem with being self-taught is that you tend to have gaps in your knowledge.

Perfect example of this: I learned programming totally ass-backward. I started with HTML, arguably some of the highest-level programming-like stuff (markup ne programming). Then I got into Javascript, then VRML, eventually PHP, then I started doing Perl. The school I was going to taught me Java and *ugh* VB.

Thing is, I never learned the basics, C and C++. Most of the Java books I've seen have a lot of "This is done the same way as in C++" or "The only difference between this and the C++ version is..." or whatever. And every CS major I know started with C/C++ (or at the very least, got it early in their schooling). So lately I've been teaching myself that, hence the ass-backwardness.

Also, the same school I mentioned before had a section on Perl. I wound up teaching my prof a lot there: I'd print out a couple of pages of code for him, he'd rub his forehead and say, "Okay, I'm going to read this over the weekend and get back to you on Monday." It was a great exercise in commenting and documenting my code, just to reduce the severity of the headaches I gave him :o)

On a side note, I heard that ever since I introduced that teacher to use English; he's been using it to teach beginners.

LAI