Re: Suitability of Lua as a First Programming Language?

[David Given <dg@...>]

Tony Finch wrote:
[...]
> As a bare programming language I think Lua is great for teaching, but it
> needs a load of addons to provide a fun environment. What I would like is
> something a bit like BBC BASIC on the Master (i.e. with a full-screen
> editor as well as old-school line-by-line input).

I still think Logo is an excellent teaching language. It's got a lot of 
instant gratification (type in a word, press RETURN, something happens!) 
while also being a real language underneath (it's pretty much a 
Lisp-lite, without the scary parentheses).

Unfortunately it *is* rather dated, with things like not having any 
strings (instead there are lists of 'words'), rather peculiar variable 
syntax, and you have to build your own OO system if you want one.

Luckily, modern Logos are substantially faster than Acornsoft Logo --- I 
remember those five-second garbage collection pauses...

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