DB> I heard something on one of those radio call-in programs dealing with
 DB> computing.  A caller asked the weenie for advice on learning programming
 DB> with their new 95 machine.  The guy told the caller that they should
 DB> start off in Cobol, since that is what colleges start new students in to
 DB> get them familiar with the programming concept.  The caller asked if she

Huh?  My university started me in Fortran, although they've since switched
to starting in Java.

 DB> wouldn't be better off getting a good C or Assembly tutorial from the
 DB> local library and start learning at that stage?  His answer was a
 DB> definite "Absolutely not!  If you do that--bypass Cobol--then you will
 DB> have an extremely difficult time in understanding the finer points of
 DB> Programming!"  He said that Cobol is the only "sensible
starting point."
 DB> True or not?  I haven't tried Cobol as a starting point...should I?

Until this last line, I thought you were voicing a complaint... absolutely
not, no university *I*'ve heard about starts in COBOL.  Pascal is a popular
starting point (it was created particularly to teach programming), although
C and Java are more popular nowadays for starting points.


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