Jan_K wrote:
> On Sun, 02 Apr 2006 03:57:21 GMT, Dave Burt <dave / burt.id.au> wrote:
> 
> Actually, I just flipped through the rest of the book and it starts to
> diverge quite a bit from the online tutorial starting with the next
> chapter and has 4 additional new chapters. 
> 
> Here are the table of contents from the book:
> http://pragmaticprogrammer.com/titles/fr_ltp/index.html
> 
> 
> So if I have any more questions I'll post the exercise instructions
> first. 

Good idea; it's sure to avoid further confusion, and I'm sure Mr. Pine 
wouldn't mind this kind of use of his text.

> Thanks for your help so far Dave. I was completely stuck in that Flow
> Control chapter and pretty much became content that another attempt at
> learning programming has successfully failed (just like the previous
> half dozen times). It's amazing how hard it is to grasp incredibly
> fucking simple concepts for the first time.

You're more than welcome. I'm chuffed that you say this, and very glad 
to have helped.

I love teaching programming. I learnt the basics of programming QBasic 
in a day, back in grade 6, from a friend (probably a little less than 
the equivalent of what you're up to now). And it is difficult and 
strange, new vocabulary, "strings", "methods", but it's so useful once 
you've got it. A lot of repetitive tasks can be reduced to a brain 
exercise by automating them. (See thread, "Does Ruby simplify our tasks 
and lives?") And knowing some of these things help you understand 
computers (and bend them to your every whim bwahahaha... oh, you're 
still reading?)

But mostly it's just fun.

Cheers,
Dave