On (28 May 97) Luke Porter wrote to All...
 LP>   I am interested in learning C, but I have very minimal experience
 LP> with programming. I took 1 year of BASIC, but that is it. My question
 LP> is should I build my experience up first before attempting to learn
 LP> C, or should I jump right into it?
It's hard to say - when I first started programming, C wasn't widely
available so I started with FORTRAN, did some bits with BASIC, used
Pascal extensively for quite a while, and have most recently used C and
C++ for most of my work.  However, if I had it to do over again, I'm
pretty sure I'd avoid FORTRAN and I'm not sure I'd mess with Pascal
either.
Despite some flamewars that try to paint the two as drastically
different, C and Pascal are really a great deal alike, and BASIC,
FORTRAN, etc., aren't enough different that you're really going to learn
a lot of fundamentally different concepts by progressing from one to
another instead of just jumping into the one you want.
OTOH, most Pascal compilers attempt to do more to protect you from
yourself than most C compilers, which can make things less frustrating
to start with.
Ultimately, I'm not sure which is more advisable.
 LP> Also, if I do try to learn it, what is the best method? Should
 LP> I take a class or teach myself? In the latter, which book is the
 LP> best?
That depends upon you and your personality.  Some people never really
settle down and work at things until they have a relatively structured
setting and somebody telling them what they need to do.
Other people tend to really jump into things heavily on their own, and
are just get frustrated by the slow pace and boring assignments of a
typical programming class.  (In case it's not obvious, I'm squarely in
this group...)
If you take a look at how you do things otherwise, it'll likely give you
a clue about how to learn programming.  For instance when I was in
school taking math classes, I'd generally be working through far more
advanced math books on my own.  OTOH, if you generally do exactly what's
required in the class, and don't try to learn more advanced topics until
they're covered in class, chances are that you won't do all that well
trying to learn on your own.
Unfortunately, I'm not really a good person to give advice about C++
tutorials - I'd already been programming for years when C++ came along.
Worse yet, most of the books I first learned with are LONG since out or
print, and would be horribly out of date even if they were still
available.
Finally, I'd note that you mention C, but you're posting in the C++
echo.  The two are separate languages, and you'd need different classes
and/or books for each...
    Later,
    Jerry.
... The Universe is a figment of its own imagination.
--- PPoint 1.90
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