From: Weiqi Gao <weiqigao AT a DOT crl DOT com>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: Is DJGPP really suitable for beginners?
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 07:42:13 -0600
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To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
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Phil wrote:
> 
> Hi DJGPP community,
> 
> Thanks for your help with my query a week ago.
> 
> I chose to try DJGPP because it stated on the homepage that it was
> suitable for beginners and seemed to be quite established, so I haven't
> looked at any other compilers yet. However, there seems to be an
> inordinate amount of 'exceptions' to previous standards, different tools
> and a lot of flexibility, which no doubt make it popular to experienced
> programmers but does tend to make it overcomplicated to the novice (or
> at least me, anyway). Does anyone know of a more basic, freeware
> compiler that I could try? Alternatively, can anyone tell me why I
> should persevere with DJGPP?

DJGPP can be a pretty BASIC beginner's C/C++ compiler.  And I suspect
you can go through the whole book of K&R II (or Stroustrup) without
major problems.

What throws most beginners off is that they are confronted with too many
new things at the same time, and they have to learn each one of those to
have the job done.  And people, especially adult beginners, gets
frustrated because they cannot see anything tangible until the last of
the ten tasks are completed correctly.

Contrast this with how beginners at their native natural languages: they
learn one thing at a time, they are not worried about whether they can
write a complete article tomorrow, and they internalize what they learn
along the way.  And in twelve years, they can become a master writer of
the language.

So be patient.  And simplify your learning environment.  Learn one thing
at a time.  Keep an inventory of each skill that you have mastered.  And
you will be amazed by how much you have learned.

It's my opinion that beginners should stay away from IDEs, just to
simplify things.  Learning to use an editor, and then the gcc command,
and then how to run the resulting program is easier then learning an IDE
where you learn all three at the same time.

-- 
Weiqi Gao
weiqigao AT a DOT crl DOT com