> And that's the point, really. Some say assembler. You say C. I say neither, or
> it depends.
>
> I would say, start with something like Ruby or Python. There's a minimum of
> busywork between you and what you actually want to make. It'll get you in,
> and get you hooked.
>
> It also means you'll have a solid grasp of a few core concepts before moving
> on to C. You won't spend the whole time learning what a variable is, or what
> a function is, because you'll already know how to program. Instead, you'll
> spend your time learning all that depth knowledge you're talking about -- how
> to allocate memory, what a pointer is, etc.
>
> But it's not really a closed debate, by any means. I started (barely) with
> QBASIC (multiple choice quizzes with if/then/else) -- didn't really learn to
> program until I got a good book on C++. So I pretty much did the opposite of
> what I'm advocating here.
>
> And I stand by, whichever has the best book. Once you know one language well,
> learning another is much easier -- it's those first baby steps that are
> difficult.

David,

Thank you for this post. I also agree.

Is it just me or is the web interface for posting here actually
PAINFUL to use?

Best,

Maurice