I found another gem from
Joel on
software that's a "must read." He's a smart guy, but I'd have to
respectfully disagree with his opinion about intro to programming courses with
the C language. Yes, I agree that C is definitely one of the first
languages you should learn; however, for someone who has never programmed
before in their lives, there are better choices for learning the basic
constructs IMHO. I would probably vote for C to be the second programming
language to teach someone after they have a clear grip on the core programming
constructs (decisions, loops, etc). Just my $.02.
