This discussion centers on the suitability of various programming languages for beginners, specifically critiquing C and C++. The consensus is that languages like Python and Perl are more accessible for newcomers due to their simplicity and ease of use, while C is better suited for low-level programming tasks. The conversation highlights the complexity and potential pitfalls of C, particularly in memory management and string handling, which can be daunting for beginners. Additionally, languages such as Scheme and Ruby are recommended for their elegant syntax and conceptual approach to programming.
PREREQUISITESBeginner programmers, educators in computer science, and anyone evaluating programming languages for teaching or learning purposes.
That is a very narrow and extremely non-standard definition of "high order language". By any rational account C and C++ are high order (or rather, high-level) languages. You can take an ANSI-C compliant program from a Linux machine to a Mac, a Windows machine, a Cray, or a Harvard architecture machine, and so long as an ANSI-compliant C compiler exists for that machine, the program will execute on that machine.Kajahtava said:That is why I listed C# under higher order. But C and C++ are most definitely not higher order, functions are not first-class there.
I take it you do not know what the term higher order means from this.D H said:That is a very narrow and extremely non-standard definition of "high order language". By any rational account C and C++ are high order (or rather, high-level) languages. You can take an ANSI-C compliant program from a Linux machine to a Mac, a Windows machine, a Cray, or a Harvard architecture machine, and so long as an ANSI-compliant C compiler exists for that machine, the program will execute on that machine.