note
merlyn
The problem with teaching Perl as a first language is that you never know
how much easier it is in Perl than in most other languages. Make them pay
their dues first: teach them C++. {grin}
<p>
In all seriousness, I'd still recommend Smalltalk as a first language,
if you can find a good set of tutorials that match the implementation you've
downloaded (or bought). Smalltalk's advantage is that the syntax fits
on the back of a business card (literally!), permits object-oriented programming
for <i>everything</i> (in fact, forces it!), provides incredible introspection,
and gives very easy access to graphical widgets in the first few hours.
<p>
For implementations, I'd start with
<a href="http://www.stonehenge.com/cgi/go/http://www.squeak.org">Squeak</a>,
which has the advantage of being open source and being maintained by the people
that originally came up with Smalltalk some 30 years ago. VisualWorks
also has a non-commercial personal-use version that seems decent and cross-platform.
<p>-- <a href="http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/">Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker</a></p>
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