[Oberon] Reiser - Wirth book

[dukeofperl at ml1.net]

On Mon, 4 Oct 2010 09:02:51 +1030 "Chris Burrows" <chris at cfbsoftware.com> wrote:
> 
> > >
> > > You could take a look a the book of Eric Nikitin, Into the realm of
> > > Oberon.  It is a nice introduction into the formalism of programming
> > > and still used in the first year class programming at the University
> > > of Antwerp.
> > 
> > Yes I could do that, but....
> > I don't want to learn Oberon by being overwhelmed with Algebra,
> > Calculus, EBNF, and all the other garbage that is too often introduced
> > into the mystical realm of computer programming. IMO, there's no need
> > for it _for most levels of application_. Does Nitikin present Oberon
> > from "Quantum Physics" point of view, or merely in terms of the
> > requirements of "Astrophysics"? :) 
> 
> Personally I prefer Wirth's writing style rather than the "Learn Perl in 24
> hours" or "Ada for Dummies" approach. Nikitin's book is at the level of
> "Sound, Light and Magnetism" ;-) I refrained from recommending it to you
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
LOL...

I don't mind Wirth's _writing style_ either. I simply don't relate to
the _context_ in which Oberon seems to be habitually presented. This
is nothing to me though. During my undergrad years at McGill U. in
Montreal, I damn near flunked out of my first year because of the
Physics course I stupidly chose as an elective. Fortunately for me, my
then girlfriend's dad was head of the Nuclear Physics Dept. at McGill
- and he liked me! Whew!! I got _a lot_ of extra help from that kind
gentleman, much to his daughter's dismay, who would have been pleased
to do _anything else_ but to listen to her dad rattle away about some
aspect of high Physics and Calculus. :)

> previously because of your previous programming experience. I would strongly
> recommend it to absolute beginners who had never written a program before.
> Despite that, I must admit I learnt one or two new things after reading it!
> If you are interested in investigating further, the listing on Amazon lets
> you view a few pages.

I'll have a look! Thanks for the tip. Best..
--
Duke