Author: Tom Kerrigan
Date: 15:07:34 08/01/03
Go up one level in this thread
On July 31, 2003 at 19:46:29, Russell Reagan wrote: >On July 31, 2003 at 18:20:47, Matthew White wrote: > >>I realize that they are essentially the same. The reason why I lean towards Java >>is the fact that if you read past the end of an array in Java, you get an >>ArrayOutOfBounds exception with the line number where the exception occurred. In >>C/C++ you get the obscure "Segmentation Fault (core dumped)." That scared the >>hell out of me as a student, having no clue what a core was... I just think that >>Java is a friendlier intro... >> >>Matt > >Surely fellow students, TAs, or the professor could have explained what a >segmentation fault was and why it happened in your program. So I don't think >that's a valid reason to prefer java. Besides, I think there are languages that >have better error descriptions than java if that's your aim. > >I also wonder which is better in the long run. Wouldn't it be better for you to >have the initial "shock" of seeing a segmentation fault, then learn what it is >and why it happens? I think that thinking java is better because you don't have >to deal with real world issues does more to hinder than help. If you and the >professors followed that same line of thinking throughout your schooling, you'd >go to work fresh out of school and *then* you'd see a segmentation fault and now >instead of getting a bad grade on one homework, you lose your job. > >Maybe java is better than C as a very first language, but that isn't a very good >reason to use it as a first language IMO, because there are plenty of languages >that are more beginner friendly than java, and I don't think finding a perfect I don't even think Java is that easy to learn. People who already know how to program like to say that it's easy to learn, but I've tutored students just learning Java and it's just not that easy. People say "Java has no pointers" but that's a worthless feature--you still have to understand pointers to understand why = copies an integer but makes a "reference" to an object. All Java does is _obscure_ pointers, making the language inconsistent and difficult for beginners. -Tom
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