[Tutor] languages

[Rob McGee]

On Sun, Jun 15, 2003 at 10:16:50PM -0700, Vernon  Miller wrote:
> I learned this past week, that since I am disabled the state rehab
> service will pay for me to learn a computer language. The school
> [snip]
> I am not giving up on python, I am still studying it every day. But,

That's the real way to learn. It sounds nice that someone else will pay
(with stolen money) for you to take a course, but do you expect that
course to help you in some way? I don't.

Even if you have a very good teacher, which I do not think is likely,
your access to that teacher will be very limited. Here on the 'Net you
have much greater access to great programmers, who have achieved great
things in the real world. And BY DESIGN, formal classroom "education"
limits your progress.

I don't expect that school to employ good teachers, simply because their
course offerings betray a lack of clue. COBOL and A+? Where are Perl and
Python?

It is a sad reality in today's economy that the vast majority of the
money/jobs are controlled by clueless people who would prefer to hire an
incompetent with credentials over a self-taught genius. But they're not
going to want someone with a trade-school diploma in Java -- they will
demand CS degrees.

It's never much fun working for clueless bosses, BTW. It's always better
to work with bosses and companies which are focused on results. I spent
about 6 years in work that I hated: never again.

Four years in college "studying" programming at best is a wash. Buy a
comfortable office chair, position it in front of a computer with an
Internet connection (don't neglect the ergonomic considerations!) and
sit there and work. In a year's time you'll be far more capable than
someone who went to college ... unless of course the college student
spent all his spare time in HIS comfortable chair.[1]

> I think I would have a better chance of actually learning Python if I
> could get a better idea of language and syntax, which I think I could
> get through learning one of these languages. 

I think you'll grasp it sooner by reading and playing with python code,
and by asking questions here and in IRC.

Good luck,
    Rob - /dev/rob0


[1] Hmmm, the comfy chair? I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition![2]

[2] NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!