Re: Programming?

["Robert G. Brown" <bob@xxxxxxx>]

"Zachary Florian" <icthusianz@ameritech.net> wrote:
>...it seems that learning to program is a lot like learning to drive a car:
>you don't necessarily need to have one specific type of car...
Yes, that's a fairly good analogy. There are some cars that you clearly do
NOT want to touch if you've never been behind the wheel before, and more
are disqualified when you have never SEEN anyone drive. This point has been
driven (sorry) home to me on several occasions.

>... it's truly more important to learn the proper techniques and logic
>to programming rather than the actual ins and outs of it all...
Precisiely! Content before form, become skilled at formulating algorithms,
become facile at developing good data structures, recognize opportunities
to exploit different data representations, and explore, explore, explore.
Then concern yourself with the mundane reality of every life, like which 
language is popular this month.

Do this the other way around, and you will always be chasing fads. If you
go into depth first, things like new tools and programming systems will get
absorbed like breathing.

I reccomended APL for this because it gives you more vision and freedom
to walk around problems than any other programing environment I've ever
enountered. No, it's not the most "popular" language, and I'm not claiming 
that it would Be A Good Thing to drop all those other pesky languages and
program exclusively in APL. I will agree with Bruce that people seem to
like it or not, and often with intensity, but rarely without some feeling.
For the purpose originally framed, APL has the jump on anything else when
it comes to giving you an environment to gain the kind of in-depth view I'm
talking about.

>...is there any good book which focuses more on the logic of
>programming rather than the exact specifics...
There are several. Anyone serious about doing good programming (even if
you don't "earn a living" at it) would be wise to consider picking up
the three volume set "The Art of Computer Programming", by Donald Knuth.
This is still a classic, and worth the price (from 70-150 USD, depending
on where and how you buy).  I'm sure other membes of the group will con-
tribute ideas about other books as well, this trio is the source of a 
great deal.

>teaching to flowchart and all that kind of good stuff like the Boolean 
>logic... or is that just something that most "good programming book" have?
Flowcharting and other techniques are useful, but it's along the lines of
learning "how" rather than "why". Different techniques are suitable of
different size problems (in terms of components, modules, functions, tables,
or in terms of complexity... number of possible paths, number of relationships
between tables, screens, fields, etc.)...

Flowcharting can be used up to a point. There are other things that can be 
used, from the back of an envelope to a project management system, which in 
itself is no mean feat of software engineering...

                                                           Regards,
                                                           ---> RGB <---