Quote:
Originally Posted by jjshabado
I don't actually have strong opinions on any of these topics, but there's a solid argument that starting like this sets you down a certain type of path and thinking. Like how your native language influences how you think.
An alternative path would be focusing on simple functional programming and even using recursion.
Maybe. One of the first languages I worked in professionally was sort of a loosey-goosey languages that had some functional programming aspects. Very few people knew it so we'd typically hire programmers who knew other languages and teach them. Invariably everyone would start out writing programs in this language as if it were C, which ends up with bad/crappy/slow/long programs. After a few months, a light bulb would usually go off.
I worked with a bunch of people who all got a CS degree in Italy. Getting an undergrad in CS did not involve touching a computer. Computer Science is like 90% a branch of math really.
I wonder if there are any CS programs that have really dedicated themselves to starting with high level languages only and then working their way down. I've never seen it, usually I've seen the opposite. I dunno, maybe it would work.