by Anonymous Coward writes:
on Sunday June 16, 2019 @08:16AM (#58770980)
Would you rather do this (BASIC): 10 PRINT "Hello, World"
or this (Java): public class HelloWorld {
public static void main(String args[]) {
System.out.println("Hello, World");
} }
Is this progress? Is it any wonder people find coding difficult to learn nowadays? I suspect coding is more daunting for beginners now than it was in the 1980s because of "advancements" like this.
BASIC is procedural, simplified assembly in a sense. Very linear, very close to the metal.
JAVA is an objective abstraction in comparison. Very non-linear, very far from the metal.
To say that one is better than the other is to discount the flaws and overvalue the features of either.
Anyone comparing programming languages and looking to name one "the best" has a poor understanding of the idea of "use the right tool for the right job" and are in effect arguing that the bike shed should be painted red.
"By the time they had diminished from 50 to 8, the other dwarves began
to suspect "Hungry."
-- a Larson cartoon
BASIC vs. "advanced" languages (Score:2, Insightful)
Would you rather do this (BASIC):
10 PRINT "Hello, World"
or this (Java):
public class HelloWorld {
public static void main(String args[]) {
System.out.println("Hello, World");
}
}
Is this progress? Is it any wonder people find coding difficult to learn nowadays? I suspect coding is more daunting for beginners now than it was in the 1980s because of "advancements" like this.
Re: BASIC vs. "advanced" languages (Score:0)
BASIC is procedural, simplified assembly in a sense. Very linear, very close to the metal.
JAVA is an objective abstraction in comparison. Very non-linear, very far from the metal.
To say that one is better than the other is to discount the flaws and overvalue the features of either.
Anyone comparing programming languages and looking to name one "the best" has a poor understanding of the idea of "use the right tool for the right job" and are in effect arguing that the bike shed should be painted red.