Ken Galbraith wrote:

>I am 57 years *young* and I have been following this list for over two years
>as a silent observer. I have a legacy DOS (multi-user) system, which I am in
>the process of converting to C++ Builder, IB Objects & Firebird (I mention
>this to make sure Helen doesn't declare this entry as OT!)
>
>I am an Australian who can ONLY speak & WRITE in English, yet I am
>constantly amazed at the number of entries in this list, from multi lingual
>people (I assume A Benson Smith, living in Brazil is at least dual lingual [
>Portuguese & English ]) & without meaning to be rude appears to me (not just
>from this but many previous entries I have read, English is not his first
>language) make comments like the one above, " I suggest FreePascal, since I
>can code in Pascal but not on C"
>
>I started programming when I was 18 (Fortran -1) and since then have
>programmed in FORTRAN II, IV, about 8 dialects of BASIC, PL/1, COBOL, about
>8 different processor assembler languages (CDC Compass, 8080,Z80,8086, DEC
>et al), various DB languages, SQL (since 1984), etc etc.
>
>You young guys (which in Australian jargon also includes women, so don't get
>feminist on me) seem to think that if you're a Pascal programmer you
>can't/won't program in C/C++ & visa versa. What also amazes me is the ones
>that mention this seem to come from countries where English is not their
>first language!
>
>Believe me, if you are a successful programmer in any language, then you can
>program in ANY (computer) language, it is much much easier than learning a
>second or subsequent natural language (my French is atrocious even through I
>spent 3 years of secondary school studying it!)
>
>I will give you an analogy, programming in a different language is much like
>moving to another country (or different part of your own country), you just
>need to rely on road maps to get anywhere until you are familiar with the
>terrain. Once you have done the trip a few times, you don't need the road
>map any more. I guess the point I am trying to get across is, don't get
>stuck in your own little world, it really isn't that hard to move to another
>area where the language may be different!
>
>Think positive!
>
>Ken A Galbraith
>
>

I am 30 yeras OLD ;-)

Yes, I am Brazilian, and English is not my mother laguage (even my last
name is Smith, I am 100% brazilian), I understand well enough English to
read the messages (sometimes I stuck on some expressions, that cannot be
translated directly to Portuguese, in those cases I try to understand
the meaning of the expression in the context, sometimes I got it,
sometimes no). I am happy that I could post/read in this list, and that
the other can (I suppose !) understaned what I want to say. I am sure my
English is very bad, and that I do a lot of syntatic/orthographic erros,
but in general the "message" can be understand, so I am happy with it. I
have studied English for some time, but I can assure you that I learned
much more reading docs on software, on the net, and messages on
discussion lists, than when I was on class.

I have coded in some languages too (Basic, Turbo Pascal, ZIM, DBase,
Clipper and a few others) and have learned in the school others (COBOL,
MUMPS, C, Assembler), but never did a "real" program with it. I am sure
anyone could learn and computer language, but learn the syntax and say I
program in "X" is completely different. Today I am studing Java, only on
the begining. I prefer to focus on 2 or 3 languages (that solves my
needs) and master it than "learn" a lot of languages and don't master
none of it. Anyone could learn the syntax and start to code on "any"
language in 2 or 3 months, but to be a good coder is a different thing,
that will need some years doing massive coding to control it.

I just don't have the needs to learn C/C++, when I was in school I first
learned Pascal, and fall in love for it, I like the syntax, the
strucute, etc. I prefer read "if (a <> b) or (c > d)" then "if (a != b)
|| (c > d)" I prefer words than simbols, I don't like case-sensitive
languages. But this is personal choice, I am sure others think the oposite.

Using your analogy, I could write/read in English (as I could learn to
code on C), but I am unable to write a romance in English (as I am
unable to produce good C code), you can understand what I want to say in
English (as I could make a C program to run), but my message will have a
lot of syntatic/ortographic erros (as my C program will not be coded in
the right way).

If one day I have a need to make a C program, than I will have to study
C Language, and learn how to produce good C code, and not just learn C
syntax.

By the way, I think positive, but just don't have enough time to learn
everything I could think of (or with to), I prefer to keep focus on a
few things. :-)

see you !

--

Alexandre Benson Smith
Development
THOR Software e Comercial Ltda.
Santo Andre - Sao Paulo - Brazil
www.thorsoftware.com.br