[REBOL] Re: Teaching Rebol => was:{Re: Re: Parsing comment}
From: tim:johnsons-web at: 25-Sep-2002 19:41
Hello All:
* Jason Cunliffe <[jason--cunliffe--verizon--net]> [020925 18:43]:
> > > What do think about REBOL being used as 'first'
> > > language and/or for kids?
>
> > Tim Johnson would be a better person to ask I think, as he's had some
> > experience of teaching REBOL to kids. I'd think it would have quite
My ears were burning .... now I know why!
Well....
Despite the comments about documentation I think that
rebol's help function is very accomodating for a new
programming student.
(and BTW I am also teaching python in a similar fashion)
just try typing "help split" at the python prompt and see what
you get.
But seriously, rebol is a very good first programming language.
The absense of systems calls in rebol/core is a good thing.
I don't have to have the student's parents sign one of those
"If you broke it with your program it ain't our fault" kind
of contract/disclaimers, as we are doing with python, perl and
C.
> > The downside would be the lack of documentation, (especially for
> > View), plus the lack of experienced REBOL programmers to teach the
> > language. Not a good look when the teacher doesn't know the answer
> > to a question and hasn't the resources to find it.
>
> Amen.
> Python is kicking Rebol's ass there.
There is a huge amount of docs on python out there. Partly a function
of it being an "older" language than rebol, right? Put rebol documentation
has come a *llloooonnnngggg* way since the old days.
But .... check this out:
Python 2.1.1 (#1, Aug 13 2001, 19:37:40)
[GCC 2.96 20000731 (Red Hat Linux 7.1 2.96-96)] on linux2
Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> help split
File "<stdin>", line 1
help split
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>> type? 2
File "<stdin>", line 1
type? 2
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
REBOL/Core 2.5.0.4.2
Copyright 1997-2001 REBOL Technologies
REBOL is a Trademark of REBOL Technologies
All rights reserved.
>> help parse
USAGE:
PARSE input rules /all /case
DESCRIPTION:
Parses a series according to rules.
PARSE is a native value.
ARGUMENTS:
input -- Input series to parse (Type: series)
rules -- Rules to parse by (Type: block string none)
REFINEMENTS:
/all -- Parses all chars including spaces.
/case -- Uses case-sensitive comparison.
>> type? 2
== integer!
>>
So who's butt is getting kicked here? :-)
((we're talking about students starting out here...)
(but I do production with rebol also))
--
Tim Johnson <[tim--johnsons-web--com]>
http://www.alaska-internet-solutions.com
http://www.johnsons-web.com