in reply to Perl Advocacy w.r.t Teaching

If he wants to become a games programmer, why did you advise him to learn Perl?

I think in order of importance, C++, C# then java, would be better advice.

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Re^2: Perl Advocacy w.r.t Teaching
by hakkr (Chaplain) on Feb 10, 2005 at 11:59 UTC
    I agree with fireartist, perl don't run on playstation.
    Some universities run games programming courses usally based around platform specific development environments. What part of games do they want to program? a few physics or AI lessons might be handy

    If it is just a grounding required then good programming is largely language independent and pseudo code will probably sufffice.

    Being entrenched in a perl way of doing things is no better than being entrenched in a java one

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        hehe, they'll have linux running on toasters soon, thats why I didt say xbox:)
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Re^2: Perl Advocacy w.r.t Teaching
by moot (Chaplain) on Feb 10, 2005 at 12:53 UTC
    I put games in parentheses because he's not really sure if that is what he wants to do, he just knows it will be something involving programming. Plus, perl is accessible and (IMO) easy to learn; also it lets you get fairly close to the metal at times whilst shielding you from some of the nastier aspects of programming (memory management, e.g.)

    Also if you read my post I was interested in opinions of it as a language to teach programming with, which (again, IMO) is something at which it excels.

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      I did read your post, I just didn't respond to that part!

      Have a super search for school, first language, learning, etc. There's been loads of discussions about this already.

      Without commenting on Perl's suitablility, I think you should consider the computing teachers' opinions/resistance more than the school board's. Can the teacher program Perl? Does she already have opinions regarding it? Would she be willing to learn it? If you're considering offering to teach an extracurricular class, are you a good instructor/teacher? Would you have the support of the current teacher?

      Sorry for throwing off so many questions, but I think there's many issues to consider if you're serious about this.

      I don't really feel qualified to comment on Perl's suitability for teaching. I've never studied CS, though would like to. I did a little BASIC at school, then a little javascript and php hacking. Perl was the first language I learnt/used to any extent.

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