[PLUG] new guy with questions

[Lancashire, Pete]

"... It seems that in this field C++ is dominate. ..."

If you plan on sharing and or makeing use of existing
code, then C++ may be in your future. It may not be
the best or what you end up using your self but sounds
like you may need to know it enough to make use of
others in that field.

Last summer I had to dust of my years of gasp ...
fortran programming, including the Cray additions I had
not used since the '70s. The code I wrote was either
C where speed was needed or Perl when not. But still had
to know Fortran enought to understand the prior art.

-pete

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ali Corbin [mailto:ali.corbin at gmail.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2006 9:35 AM
> To: General Linux/UNIX discussion and help, civil and on-topic
> Subject: Re: [PLUG] new guy with questions
> 
> 
> On 6/13/06, Eric Biggs <eric.biggs at hotmail.com> wrote:
> ...
> > My motivation for learning C++ is kind of to add to my repitoire of
> > languages, though I don't know any computer languages yet.  
> I am a classical
> > (koine) Greek student as well as classical Hebrew (not 
> Paleo-Hebrew) and I'm
> > going to be switching my major (eventually) to applied 
> linguistics.  I was
> > "looking down the road" and considered being familar with 
> computaional
> > linguistics and thought to myself, "self, you should learn 
> a computer
> > language."  It seems that in this field C++ is dominate.
> 
> There's a bit of overlap between human languages and computer
> languages.  But I find computer languages a whole heck of a lot easier
> to learn.  The grammar is a lot simpler, and there are no silly
> exceptions that you have to memorize.
> 
> With that said, you should know that there are at present two major
> types of computer languages.  Procedural languages like C, in which
> the programs are laid out like a string of sentences, and
> object-oriented languages like Java, in which programs  are laid out
> more like a collection of rooms, each of which contains a shorter set
> of sentences.  (How's that for a mixed metaphor?)
> 
> The two types of languages take two different mindsets.  OO languages
> are a lot newer than procedural ones, and it was a bit of a struggle
> for some programers to make the switch.  I don't know which type would
> be better for someone like you.
> 
> (C++, although billed as an OO language, can actually be used as a
> procedural one.  So you can have it both ways.)
> 
> > Those that replied to my posts did some kind of inserting 
> of my posts into
> > their replies...(does that make sense?)  With a view of 
> ettiquette, I
> > presume I should follow suit...but, alas...I am ignorant.  
> Therefore, How do
> > I correctly reply on this list?
> 
> Most of us use mailing programs that automatically quote the original
> whenever we make a reply.   Saving the context means that you don't
> have to remember what the original question was.   Your mailer might
> have an option some where to turn this behavior on.
> 
> Ali
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