Re: [gentoo-dev] Programming advice wanted?

[Dennis Allison]

You'll want to learn enough so that the issue of language is not a 
significant issue.  Performance for lanaguages like Python is an 
interesting issue since C and C++ extensions are fairly easy to create 
provided you can grock the right bindings.  That's the best of both worlds 
-- simplicity and ease of manipulation of problem-oriented objects from 
Python, performance from C or C++ or something else.


On Mon, 22 Mar 2004, Tom Wesley wrote:

> On Monday 22 Mar 2004 20:48, Andrew Gaffney wrote:
> > Dennis Allison wrote:
> > > I don't want to start a flame war, but after an initial love affair I
> > > dont't much like Java.  It's not a "better C++", it's a "different C++".
> > > I found the hype associated with the language irritatiing and the lack of
> > > stability as the language evolved unfortunate.  But there are places
> > > where the language was useful and I put aside my personal prejudices and
> > > worked with the notation.
> > >
> > > But, I personally don't think Java's a good language for Andrew's
> > > purpose--which is to learn to program.
> >
> > Tom Wesley was the OP, not me :) The point is still valid, though.
>
> Who said that? ;)
>
> >
> > > In a very real sense, I think assembly lanaguage (or even Hex machine
> > > code) may be a good place to start to learn programming.  A good macro
> > > assembler is an awesome tool in the hands of a skilled programmer.  Some
> > > beginning programming books--Yale Patt's in particular--adopt the view
> > > that everyone should learn about programming from the bits up.
> >
> > Assembly is something I still wish to learn. Maybe I actually will someday.
>
> I've neither the patience or the coffee, me thinks.
>
> >
> > > My point was/is that programming is language independent.  I've always
> > > liked Michael Griffith's comment about programming: "I always use the
> > > same programming language no matter what the compiler" or something like
> > > that. Using a polymorphic, internally consistent, object-oriented
> > > language like Python is a good framework to learn programming. I think
> > > Python does a pretty good job of capturing the abstractions you need to
> > > write simple, conceptually clear programs.  You don't have to worry about
> > > the nits, you can program interactively and see what happens, and there's
> > > not the huge overhead of type mechanisms to drag into every single little
> > > program. The language is introspective (aka introspective) so programs
> > > can learn about their own structure.
> >
> > Perl is good for mostly the same reasons, which is why it's my current
> > language of choice.
> >
> > > But ultimately the only way to learn about programming is to read
> > > programs and work with masters in the field.   It's still an art not a
> > > science.
>
> I think I may have given a slightly wrong impression with my original email -
> I am a programmer or sorts, but have done nothing in either Linux or
> C/C++....
>
> This discussion seems to be leading towards the use of scripting (?) languages
> like Python and Perl, and more mentions of Python than anything else.  I have
> to say that I like the idea of this, least of all because it will give me
> some ability to comment on portage and other Gentoo specifics.
> I like this idea, as for some reason it sounds less of a large slope to climb.
> If/when I get there, what are the GTK+2 and QT bindings like for Python?  I'm
> mainly concerned about the speed and how similar it is to using C/C++ - it's
> quite probable that I'll want to learn either eventually.
>
>

-- 
Dennis Allison * Computer Systems Laboratory * Gates 227
               * Stanford University *  Stanford CA  94305
	       * [phone] * [phone] fax
	       * allison@×××××××××××××××.edu
	       * allison@×××××××××××××××.edu



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