Re: "Linus Torvalds Was (Sorta) Wrong About C++"

Martijn Lievaart <m@rtij.nl.invlalid> writes:


  I give courses in both VBA and C++ (both during the recent
  months). I teach adults without any required previous
  knowledge. Unfortunately, for many of them, learning
  programming is very hard. I can observe that, with VBA, they
  are better motivated (because they already use Office and
  know what they want to do with VBA) and they get more sense
  of achievement earlier, because at the end of a short
  beginner's class, they already can write GUI software in
  VBA. In C++, I do not teach GUI programming because I only
  teach the language and its standard library in my courses,
  and, moreover, GUI programming would still be too difficult
  for the beginner's course in C++. So for a beginner with
  average previous knowledge, I do recommend VBA.

VBA C++
Yes No Retrieve Web pages with the standard library (WTSL)
Yes No Read Directories of the file system WTSL
Yes No Build GUIs WTSL
Yes No Easily work with text documents WTSL
Yes No Easily work with spreadsheets WTSL
Yes No A standard IDE with a debugger
Yes No A simple REPL (immediate windows)

  VBA (immediate window)

? "Hello, World"

  C++

#include <iostream>
int main() { ::std::cout << "Hello, World" << "\n"; }

  I have the impression that the majority of the students in
  my VBA course at the end of the beginner's course already
  have reached the point where they can use the language
  productively in their lives, while some students in my C++
  courses might never reach that point.