On Mon, Feb 14, 2005 at 07:08:53AM +0900, Navindra Umanee wrote:
> Richard Dale <Richard_Dale / tipitina.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> > I'd like to try ruby on non-programmers teaching them using why's amazing
> > guide, to see how it works as a beginner's language. I showed some ruby
> > code to my 45 year old lodger who has never used a computer or seen a
> > computer program. He said "it looks like English, I thought computer
> > programming was maths". And he is especially impressed with the cartoon
> > foxes in Chapter 3, they have got to be the killer feature..
> 
> Oh you think Ruby might be suitable for a total beginner?
> 

I think Ruby would be a great language for a 'total' beginner. First -
the syntax and "wording" makes look and feel very natural IMO. Second -
all you need is a text editor and Ruby itself - no confusing steps where
you have to "make", "compile" or "build" anything. Just "run" your
program (this is of course true for all scripting languages). Third -
there is no need to introduce object oriented concepts such as classes
and objects before the user is ready for them. Compare the standard
Hello World example in Ruby with one in java:

Ruby:

(hello.rb)
puts "Hello World"

$> ruby hello.rb

Java:

(Hello.java)
public class Hello {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello World");
    }
}

$>javac Hello.java
$>java Hello

The java example prints out the same stuff as the Ruby example, but the
novice user would think: "What is a class?", "What is 'public'?", "What
is 'static'?", "What about that 'args' stuff?", "Where did that
Hello.class file come from, and why do I run 'java Hello' and not 'java
Hello.class'?" etc.

//Anders
-- 
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. http://www.gnejs.net    PGP-Key: ED010E7F
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