Re: Suitability of Lua as a First Programming Language?

["Pierre Chapuis" <catwell@...>]

> On 01/12/2012 21.12, liam mail wrote:
>> I feel you need to build a solid foundation onto which knowledge is
>> grown.
>
> That's just one of the possible paths, a respectable approach usually
> taken by schools but unlikely to inspire passion and motivation and
> requiring a lot of methodical determination on the learner's part.
>
> Some people (including myself) prefer to learn by following a completely
> different path, starting with islands of knowledge and building from
> there in all directions.
> In my case it all started with RPN HP calculators, then a first exposure
> to BASIC, then 6502 assembly, then BASIC in depth when personal
> computers appeared (wow, garbage collection!) then some Pascal, then
> C... and so on.
> The (initial) lack of a solid theoretical foundation didn't prevent me
> from building complex and robust programs.
>
> Also, my teaching experience (both in writing and in person) seems to
> indicate that the learner's motivation is the most important point. So I
> agree with martinwguy's when he says: "the choice can reflect the
> kind of problems the beginner wants to solve first".
> The starting point is not really that important; comprehension, depth
> and a wider view will come later if the learner is really motivated.

I definitely agree with that answer. I think you can learn like a
Computer Scientist, in academia, or like a hacker, thanks to passion.
My previous answer assumed the first route. The second one does not
require classes, and any language (including Lua) works.

-- 
Pierre Chapuis