Captain's Log Supplemental

I comptemplate using C++ again as one of my primary languages, it was the first I started to learn with but one I’ve never put to much good use.

I generally consider C and C++ different languages, with C++ being C like in so far as C++ is similar to C. Although I do actually like it if the commonalities allow for using either a standard C compiler or C++ compiler. But I still think one should pick one and stick to it.

The main reason for considering C++ as a primary language again, is that it is more C like then any language I use regularly (besides C) so adapting it would be easy. The differences it has over C, might actually make C++ potentionally more productive for me or just annoying but.

The main reason I think digging back into C++ would be counter-productive is the low-level aspects it shares with C, would likely have the same result. Namely the reason I tend look at Bourne shell scripting before deciding to implement things.

The many utilities available outweigh the sense of writing ones own methods of processing the problem. Why have a specialized set of functions when you can just use cat, sed, grep, and awk? And with languages like Ruby or Python; the ability to test code quickly in an interpreter and a fast library of useful tools (batteries included) can be time savers of the write it or find a library for it problem I often face in C.

The main reason I use C, is I love the language and find it very beautiful. Learning the inner secrets of how computers work is a goal for me, one I also find can be a bit of an anti-problem for just getting stuff done.

Using C++ again might also have the problem of my understanding of C interfering with my use of C++ and vice versa after awhile…

Of all the languages I have encountered, The worst things I can say about them…

C -> All fine and dandy till you shoot yourself in the foot without realizing it.

C++ -> See above

Java -> Well, other then the shere bulk these days… I would prefer it to C++ if I wasn’t more used to gcc/g++ then javac 😉

Perl -> A fine language but I dislike reading other peoples scripts at times; nether beautiful nor elegant but like a sharp knife very effective if occasionally complicated to use it as such.

PHP -> I just hate using PHP, period; I’d rather use Perl or C++ — Assembly might be preferable to PHP in my book !

Python -> A radical departure syntactically from other languages I am used to working with but it is growing on me… The documentation also is quite nice and the occasional irks I have with Ruby are missing.

Ruby -> Like wise very different from the CBF but much more productive for me then either C or Java. A big advantage for me is similarities Ruby has with Perl, while remaining *not* Perl.

Scheme -> very rudermentry knowledge of as I never got to finish reading the standard before work caught me again lol.

Also I have had brief looks into Ada and X86 Assembly but I still consider Bourne Shell, Python, and Ruby my strongest languages; with C and Java as secondary. I don’t honestly consider myself a good programmer but I think I am better at programming then I am at playing Chess b||b

Ada fascinates me but never had the time to really study it the way I want to. Assembly, is more so some thing that interests me for one I could learn through it rather then some thing I would want to work with a lot.

I love to study different programming languages, it allows me to learn a lot and to try and wrap my head around different ways of doing things.

Standard libraries and things aside, I am mostly indifferent to language, to me it is just another way to write. I used my abilities to read English to learn C++ and Perl. I bumped into C one day and that was that.. lol. It is just a matter of my ‘comfort zone’ that I tend to prefer specific languages, namely that I can get stuff done very quickly in Ruby and Python, bourne shell saves me time, and I love C.

From Ada to Vim script, it is all fun to learn.

When I was entering the 7th Grade I tested as having college level reading comprehension and most related things also had high marks aside from my Spelling. It was actually quite strange to get the test results because I was held back one grade as a child because I “couldn’t read”. My little secret?

I failed the 2nd Grade because I did the reading tests systematically my way. Rather then only hunting down and reading what I could read on the exam when I saw it.

I scanned it for the words I could read and there were plenty of them but the instructor didn’t tell me what she wanted me to do other then read it.

So I went through it word by word, left to right, line by line reading what I could: just as I would today now that I could read. And of course I ran out of time; personally I think the instructor thought my scanning time was just struggling on the bigging of the test lol.

Because I was only scored on the words I read allowed, all of the ones I could read down them, well I guess like 80-90% of the test papers; they didn’t count. I might very well have passed that test as a boy and got into the 3rd Grade rather then having to repeat the 2nd Grade.

My mechanical nature made me fail that test horribly as a child but if I had merely sat down and tried to ‘pass’ the test rather then ‘doing’ it my way. I might never have learned to read the way I did, which I must say is the greatest thing I have ever learned.

English is a very screwed up language when it comes to its written form -> and the family dictionary admits this! But I feel if one can read and understand English well enough, you can learn computers easy.

That is why I find it a bit strange when people struggle with simple tasks on the computer. I don’t expect any one to be able to decipher a hexdump but applying a little reading comprehension and common sense yeah I do expect ^_^

I first used a computer when I was still in diapers, I needed to find the command names on a piece of paper in order to run a program. Because I didn’t know how to list the contents of a floppy disk and figure out what was on it. Today I regularly use 3 PC’s and the command line is my friend. And although I have found superiors when it comes to people that know computers I have never found any one that shares my love of learning.

In gaming I have often said, give me a secure firing position, a mark to shoot at, and I’ll hit it given a good sniper rifle for the job. Like wise, give me a book and often I can inhale it, give me a manual and I might love it. I love to learn but I find school boring as shit… teaches nothing beyond the 3 R’s… In way to many years.

Heck, I could learn more visiting the library daily then I have from school since completing the 3rd or 4th Grade… And it would be quite a bit less boring at the library I bet.