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Popular conceit about learning programming languages

Ray Smith ray at rays-web.com
Fri Nov 22 07:43:48 EST 2002 
engsol at teleport.com wrote in message 

<snip a lot of good stuff>

> I too can pick up a programming book, and in a a couple of evenings, do the "simple"
> stuff...like for loops, procedures, etc. But I always seen to hit a leveling off (or
> several) in the learning curve.. I can't seem to progress in the sense of expressing a
> programming task in terms of the current lanquage of interest, until, (and this is a big
> UNTIL) I see a book which explains concepts in a way that makes the light go on.
> 
> One example....I'm a fair C programmer. When C++ became popular, I read the usual books
> "Learn C++ in 10 microseconds", but I never really grasped the concepts of OOP nor
> classes. So I shunned them. Then along came Python..and the light dawned. It wasn't the
> first Python book I read, not the 8th..it was the 9th that broke my personal learning dam.
> Why? Because it explained the process and offered concepts that stuck, and to me, made
> sense.

I agree with the "see the light" idea ... but consider it wasn't "just" the last 
book you read but "everything" you read until you read the last book and the 
"light came on".

I tried 3 or 4 times to learn Python until the "light clicked on". (over a couple
of years).  I have alot of experience with many programming languages over more 
than 10 years ... but for whatever reason I seemed to have a mental block 
learning Python.

Possible reasons:
* I have never used an OOP language to develop large programs. I have read the 
learn C++ in 24 hour type books, understood the concepts of "objects" but 
couldn't bend my mind to "program" (or think) with objects.

* I am used to strongly "typed" languages and it confused me that you could 
seemingly "pull the cat of the bag" at any time and add member variables to 
classes.  C++ teaches you to define the class in minute detail, then implement
your definition.  Python says ... just do whatever you need to get the job done.

I'm still in the early learning stages but the light seems to be on, and from 
here it is just a matter of adding the "meat to the bone"! 

Ray Smith


(I'm sorry for all the bad cliques! - it started with the "light click on" thing
and then I couldn't stop ;] )
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