[lug] First Programming Language

[stimits at comcast.net]

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On Wed, 03 Jan 2018 21:57:48 -0700Michael J. Hammel wrote:
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I'm still in favor of building a solid foundation. That makes me think ofC. Doing a web search for "beginner programming language", Python seemsto be the popular choice. Or maybe Swift?...
 
I'm probably just weird and strange and masochistic (also sadistic?), but if you do really want to understand what is going on in the long run and have the time to do it, I'd also suggest C. The reason is that eventually it leads to an understanding of memory layout you won't get with some of the "safer" languages. Sure, you can have safety wheels on your tricycle, but if you know how to code correctly down to the bare metal your understanding and future possibilities are on a completely new level.
 
Then again, like a recent movie might say...be careful, understanding can lead to the dark side! Or not understanding can lead to a comic tragedy. My own saying is "understanding is the first sign of insanity". Hopeful the world isn't entirely sane, it wouldn't be fun.
 
I'd like to know more about what the requirements are...if this is just learning ahead of time, or if it is part of some specific requirement. The business information systems courses tend to center on database and system administration classes (and yes, they used to all be COBOL). It's really hard to know without more details...more details please!
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