Re:Git's list of banned C functions
by ajuc on Friday March 05, 2021 @04:41AM
(#26354902)
I've studied IT in early 00s in Poland, the course was a little outdated, but it had some advantages.
We've started from 0 with no assumption of any computer knowledge and first 2 years most courses were using Delphi (console only, no GUI stuff, basically it could just as well have been Turbo Pascal, some Linux enthusiasts used FPC instead of Delphi and it worked).
We all complained that we want C++ then, but I've learnt to appreciate Pascal later. After first few months we've known every nook and cranny and there was very little corner cases and gotchas. So basically we focused on algorithms and not on avoiding the traps language set for us.
Most people had no programming experience and after a few weeks they wrote correct programs no problem.
I doubt this would happen if we started with C++ as most people wanted, and I think it's better than Python as a starting language because it teaches about static typing and difference between compile- and run-time.
We've started from 0 with no assumption of any computer knowledge and first 2 years most courses were using Delphi (console only, no GUI stuff, basically it could just as well have been Turbo Pascal, some Linux enthusiasts used FPC instead of Delphi and it worked).
We all complained that we want C++ then, but I've learnt to appreciate Pascal later. After first few months we've known every nook and cranny and there was very little corner cases and gotchas. So basically we focused on algorithms and not on avoiding the traps language set for us.
Most people had no programming experience and after a few weeks they wrote correct programs no problem.
I doubt this would happen if we started with C++ as most people wanted, and I think it's better than Python as a starting language because it teaches about static typing and difference between compile- and run-time.
Sadly it's a dead language now.