On Sat, Feb 9, 2013 at 12:50 PM, Rick Johnson <rantingrickjohn...@gmail.com> wrote: > I really don't like to read docs when learning a language, especially a > "so-called" high level language. I prefer to learn the language by > interactive sessions and object introspection. Then, when i have exhausted > all abilities to intuit the solution, i will roll my eyes, maybe blubber an > expletive, and then reluctantly crack open a user manual.
What Rick means: "I want to claim that I've learned a new language, but I want it to work exactly like the imaginary language in my mind, and if it doesn't, I'm going to complain about it, rather than, yaknow, actually learn a new language." I have learned *many* languages in the past couple of decades. Some of them are excellent and I keep using them (Pike). Others are excellent and I keep talking about them (Python). Some are mediocre or poor, but I keep using them anyway (bash). Some are not particularly enjoyable to me and I use them only in the one application that embeds them (Lua, Scheme, DML). And some, I'm just not going to touch any more (Q-BASIC). But there is not a single language that hasn't taught me something new. I'm a better C++ programmer for having learned Python; a better Python programmer for having grokked Scheme and Lua; and, believe it or not, a better Scheme programmer for having mastered DML. And that's a language so obscure it doesn't even have a Wikipedia page... just a redlink here[1]. Learning a language requires accepting something from it into your brain, not forcing something from your brain onto the language. ChrisA [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_programming_languages_by_type#Extension_languages -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
