Programming C, C++, Java, PHP, Ruby, Turing, VB
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Programming C, C++, Java, PHP, Ruby, Turing, VB  

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 Ics4u?
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mirhagk




PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:54 am   Post subject: RE:Ics4u?

Compsci teachers need to be especially open to things like learning alternate languages etc. Lessons should be taught about concepts, and ways to approach problems, with the language being used being taught as the sytnax. A student should feel free to learn different syntax on their own, and program the same code in that. (I know one student that explored into compiling from one langauge, and decompiling in another just because the teacher didn't let students use alternate languages. It didn't really work lol, but you can see the downfall here).

As for how I got started, it was in grade 7, someone gave me this amazing program, RPG Maker. I loved games so it was fun making them, and I quickly got into the event system, and the sort of scripting language they had. While it didn't really teach me coding, it taught me a lot of the concepts (if statements, loops, variables), which helped me quickly master turing in grade 10. Then after the 2 week intro to C++ (which everyone hated) I decided to pick up a book on it, and learn it on my own. Then after complaining about how much more difficult it was to accomplish anything in C++, and how I wanted to make some games, someone told me about XNA, and that I could make Xbox games. That was also the year our compsci course got a better teacher, who wanted to switch the course from C++ to C# for 11 and 12, so I did the later parts of grade 11, and all of grade 12 in C#, and I was happy.
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Raknarg




PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 12:05 pm   Post subject: RE:Ics4u?

haha man I wish we had a C++ course in our school, that would've made things so much easier Razz I try learning on my own, but it feels just like such a momentous task, it's hard to get into.
mirhagk




PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 12:31 pm   Post subject: RE:Ics4u?

No trust me it was NOT easy. They used some libraries for GUI that were invented before the standard library. They actually type defined their own booleans, which of course weren't compatible, and caused the system to crash. We spent half the time trying to figure out why the library wasn't working, and the other half replacing semi-colons. The course probably taught less than the grade 11 one just because everything took so long to do. Now there's so much more packed in there because you don't have to worry about C++ crazyness.

Oh and the school provided only VC++6 or whatever it was, so any rational programmer switched to visual studio express 2005/8 (forget which it was back then). The worst part was that they didn't agree on whether
code:

for(int i=0;i<10;i++)
{
}
for(int i=0;i<5;i++)
{
}

was valid or not. Since using i as the for loop is pretty much standard, nearly all the code passed between students broke.
Raknarg




PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 1:33 pm   Post subject: RE:Ics4u?

oh wow.

Yay for simple Turing o suppose Razz
Amarylis




PostPosted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 1:16 pm   Post subject: RE:Ics4u?

Meh, I would've rather enjoyed tackling the madness of C++ or the more sane C# as opposed to sitting in class every day going "why are we learning only graphics stuff in Turing -_-"
mirhagk




PostPosted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 2:34 pm   Post subject: RE:Ics4u?

Oh I loved learning C#, it was consistent and made sense, while still being a complete language, and we actually studied sorting methods and other algorithms
Raknarg




PostPosted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 3:16 pm   Post subject: RE:Ics4u?

See, the only reason I like turing is that it's thus far been able to do whatever I want, while also being stupidly easy. It just seems like going to another language is just mostly a syntax issue.
jr5000pwp




PostPosted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 4:17 pm   Post subject: Re: Ics4u?

That's what I like about C#, it may not be the stupidly easy that turing is, but it is easy enough that anyone who wants to learn it, can learn it, and fairly quickly at that. There is also no tricks in C#, you're not going to go learn OOP and have it throw something like:
code:

var myClassInstance: pointer to myClass
new myClass, myClassInstance

Instead, you'll have something legible like:
code:

DoubleVector position = new DoubleVector(72.1238432, 256);

I haven't started ICS3U/ICS4U yet, but I am incredibly excited because it will be in C# and I'll find a way to make each project exciting and challenging.
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mirhagk




PostPosted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 5:27 pm   Post subject: RE:Ics4u?

I personally think they should teach C# in more schools because there is SOOO much to learn about the language. It has so many different ways of doing things, encompassing nearly every programming paradigm.
Raknarg




PostPosted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 6:16 pm   Post subject: RE:Ics4u?

I would bother learning it if they had it available in the system. I'm lazy like that.
mirhagk




PostPosted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 10:32 pm   Post subject: RE:Ics4u?

good luck with computer science then lol.
Raknarg




PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 1:48 am   Post subject: RE:Ics4u?

I don't see the issue, I don't need to learn another language yet. The thing that I hate that people talk about is how bad you are at programming if you can only program in turing. Language isn't important in the realm of computer science. If you want to go anywhere with it then obviously you do, but a simple language can do everything that's necessary to learn how to program, learn algorithms and concepts and everything. Why would I bother learning french if I'm going to live in texas? Sure maybe french will come in handy later on, but I will have lots of time to learn when university comes around.
Insectoid




PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 6:49 am   Post subject: RE:Ics4u?

Quote:
I will have lots of time to learn when university comes around.


Oh, how I wish that were true.
mirhagk




PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 8:22 am   Post subject: RE:Ics4u?

Yeah as time goes on you get less and less time. In university you'll probably need to get a job during your time off, and you'll be focused on just trying to understand course material.

Learning a 2nd language in computer science is probably the most important thing to learn. Even if you never use it again, knowing a language helps you program better in the languages you do use. I have a 1 page list font 12 of all the languages I've studied, so if someone gives me a language I've studied something similar to it, and so that I know most of the major programming paradigms, and can write the best code I can in the only language I actively use (C#).

Even learning french when you live in texas may be beneficial. Read [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity"]Linguistic Relativity[/url] for more information, but basically many linguistics, as well as many others (myself included) believe that the language you use affects (or controls) your thoughts, and ultimately your actions. If you use a language to think, then your limited to thinking only thoughts that are expressible in that language. You can also only communicate and receive information based on the language, so certain ideas can't be expressed. (take the english word love, which tries to, and fails to, encompass several different meanings, which other languages (greek being one) have several different words for).

Try to learn as many programming languages as you can as early as you can, it aids in learning anything computer science related. Maybe even think about learning a 2nd language to be able to think better (I personally vote for lojban, which is a very programmer friendly spoken/written language, and promotes logical thinking)
Insectoid




PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 9:32 am   Post subject: RE:Ics4u?

If anything, learning a 2nd language will teach you how to learn even more languages quickly. And you will be learning more languages. Got a project that requires PHP? Learn PHP in two weeks and you'll be your boss's best friend. You won't learn PHP (or any language, really) in 2 weeks without having mastered five or six other languages first though.
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