in reply to Learning how to program (for youngsters of any age)

If you think Perl is too difficult to teach kids, then you are either underestimating their power to learn, or you are overestimating how difficult Perl is compared to BASIC. Here's a classic: 
print "What is your name?\n";

$name = <>;

print "Hello $name, have a nice day.\n";

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Come on, is that really that much tougher? You don't have to teach them structured, OO-based programming from the get go.

Besides, how many languages have a "spaceship operator"?

Pascal, in my opinion, is harder to learn than Perl, and yet Pascal is promoted as a "learning tool". Go figure.

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Re: $name vs. NAME$
by T Belich (Novice) on Aug 07, 2001 at 23:57 UTC
    I'd have to agree. Learning EVERYTHING about Perl is of course difficult, rather maybe even impossible.
    But doing the equivalent of small programs in basic or C I think is just as easy. Move on to tougher stuff
    when the pupil is ready. Then by the time college rolls around (assuming they stuck with it) they will be able to
    run circles around their fellow students, and probably be a lot more confident about themselves. That would
    be true for any more advanced language, not just Perl, but you get the point.

    Challenge! Much better to have gone a little to far and have to just back up a bit, then not reach their potential at all!

    -T Belich

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