Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp From: abostick AT netcom DOT com (Alan Bostick) Subject: "I before E, except after . . . " (was Re: C for dumbasses) Message-ID: Organization: Arrogant Opinions 'R' Us References: <01bbf223$975c3400$580520ce AT d-moran> <5craee$kfe AT pulp DOT ucs DOT ualberta DOT ca> Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1997 00:29:31 GMT Lines: 33 Sender: abostick AT netcom19 DOT netcom DOT com To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp bhodge AT gpu5 DOT srv DOT ualberta DOT ca (B Hodge) writes: >One thing to keep in mind. DO NOT LEARN C++ BEFORE YOU LEARN C!!! >Teaching a friend programming, who started off in C++ and I'm still >picking up the pieces :) Say *what*? That's like saying "Do not learn perl before you learn awk!" Or maybe "Do not learn Pascal before you learn ALGOL-68!" Or maybe even "Do not learn perl before you learn C!" What sort of bad programming habits does learning C++ encourage? Relying on the compiler to catch the programmer's type mismatches? Including iostream.h instead of stdio.h? Using //-marks to comment code? Or do you think, rather, that once a programmer has tasted C++'s power she never will want to restrict herself to a language where she can't overload function names? C and C++ are different languages. Very closely related languages to be sure, but different languages. Switching from one to another requires some adaptation, no matter which direction you go. Switching from Pascal to C requires some adaptation, as does going from sh to perl, or COBOL to PL/1. What's the big deal? (What sort of pieces would you have had to pick up, do you suppose, if your friend had started out learning Pascal?) -- Alan Bostick | My conclusion is that this is most likely an | exceptionally well executed fake. It remains the mailto:abostick AT netcom DOT com | most authentic alien image that I have ever seen. news:alt.grelb | Whitley Strieber http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~abostick