in reply to Re: Reactions to OO-Perl
in thread Reactions to OO-Perl

I wouldn't suggest Java for someone with no programming experience. Check out this article about the pain of writing "Hello World" in Java. I think Perl is fine for a newbie. My first language was AppleSoft Basic, and it was a good one because it was so easy to get some positive results out of it. That kind of quick success is important for new programmers.

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Re: Re: Re: Reactions to OO-Perl
by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Oct 19, 2001 at 20:04 UTC
    This kind of quick success is the reason why I'm teaching my fiancee Perl as a first language. And, as I will be teaching her strict and warnings and good technique from the get-go, she shouldn't have any problem with OO-Perl. *grins*

    ------
    We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

    Don't go borrowing trouble. For programmers, this means Worry only about what you need to implement.

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Re: Re: Re: Reactions to OO-Perl
by netjackal (Acolyte) on Oct 23, 2001 at 14:10 UTC
    I agree that Java is a pain to program in ... and it is one of the reasons I have stayed away from it so far.

    I have not actually been on a formal Perl course so I cannot really comment on how good Perl will be for a beginner on a good course. But I made the comment that I did not recommend Perl to beginners on the basis that they are going to be self-taught and more importantly 'self-policing'. That is the only guru to tell them to use strict and not to use map in void context etc is themselves.

    I think Perl is a good language to suck people in to programming because it is tons more fun coding in Perl than any other language I have done

    A simple language like BASIC is good for beginners and I agree with that but I think Perl is not just simple .. I think the way it is makes it easy for beginners with no proper guidance to abuse certain features without knowing it.

    Having said that ... sites like perlmonks.org and mailing list like beginners@perl.org do a lot to help these people.

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