[wplug] Best programming language for beginner?

[Brian Makin]

For web dev ruby is very popular.

"He stresses that systems design needs to emphasize human, rather than
computer, needs:[29]... "
This all depends on what you are doing.  In many fields it is important to
know what the machine is doing.  Even in web dev it is sometimes important.
 For instance... if you create a very large web application in "ruby" for
instance... you might be able to save 10s or 100s of thousands of dollars
per year by using C++.

If you are doing numerics codes and you use ruby you will need something
like 10-30x as many computers to do the same work.
That being said... many applications just don't care.

As for what is "fun"?  That depends on you!  For me the most fun is C,
assembler, and Lisp



On Thu, Feb 21, 2013 at 3:07 PM, <Justin at js-wordsmith.com> wrote:

> Probably Web applications, I guess. I feel like that's where development
> is headed.
>
> Oh, and I'd love for programming to be a fun experience. Working with Java
> was about as much fun as sticking my head in an oven. The Wikipedia article
> about Ruby got me thinking...
>
> "Matsumoto has said that Ruby is designed for programmer productivity and
> fun, following the principles of good user interface design.[28] He
> stresses that systems design needs to emphasize human, rather than
> computer, needs:[29]
>
>     Often people, especially computer engineers, focus on the machines.
> They think, "By doing this, the machine will run faster. By doing this, the
> machine will run more effectively. By doing this, the machine will
> something something something." They are focusing on machines. But in fact
> we need to focus on humans, on how humans care about doing programming or
> operating the application of the machines. We are the masters. They are the
> slaves."
>
> That sounds about right. Is this how the Ruby community thinks? That
> tutorial Vikram linked to is HILARIOUS, and I really like how easy it is to
> understand the code.
>
> Justin Smith
> Vice chair/secretary, WPLUG Board of Directors
> http://www.wplug.org
>
>
>
> >---- Original Message ----
> >From: Brian Makin <merimus at gmail.com>
> >To: "General user list" <wplug at wplug.org>
> >Sent: Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 2:33 PM
> >Subject: Re: [wplug] Best programming language for beginner?
> &gt;
> >In that case... what kind of open source projects would you like to work
> on?
> >That should narrow your choices quite rapidly.
> &gt;
> >Every programming language has its strengths and weaknesses.
>
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