On: Coding - the new Latin

[itmag]

I would probably just go with Python or something. Teach them variables, for loops, if statements, printing stuff to the screen, stuff like that.

That way they get a good notion of what programming actually is.

I'm only now getting into functional programming. I would not have grokked it very well when I was like 12 years old.

[philwelch → itmag]

Maybe functional programming would be easier to grasp had you not learned imperative programming first.

[kabdib → philwelch]

I never had a problem with this, and my first few languages were BASIC, assembly and C. LISP came naturally to me a few years later.

I think the problem is that people are /used/ to imperative programs, and aren't given real practice in functional programming.

There are also FP zealots, some of whom maintain that learning IP first causes damage. I think this attitude is toxic and doesn't actually help their "cause" (as if good tools needed a "cause" -- good tools should just be good tools).

[itmag → kabdib]

Well, FP is more elegant. But sometimes you just need a chainsword.

[itmag → itmag]

I will not be silenced by the functional agenda, dammit. Sometimes the right tool is imperative programming :p