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Mail Archives: djgpp/2000/01/02/12:16:31

From: bowman AT montana DOT com (bowman)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: Is DJGPP really suitable for beginners?
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Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2000 15:55:20 GMT
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To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
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Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com

Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il> wrote:

>How is this easier than DJGPP?  The installation instructions sound a lot 
>like ours.

Not quite. For a complete beginner, downloading one self extracting file,
putting it in a directory, clicking on it to expand it, and then clicking
on one executable to run the whole thing is appealing. Even adding the
directory to PATH is optional is you only want to run in the directory.

It does not even come close to djgpp in power, flexibility, tools, and
so forth, but if someone just wants to experiment with C, it is fast and
easy. When they decide C is for them, then they go and get djgpp. 


DJGPP has certainly improved over the years, but, for the novice to C and
perhaps computers in general, a trip to the zip picker, readme.1st, a
simtel mirror, and all the rest entailed when you send someone off to
www.delorie.com/dgppp can be frustrating. This list bears out the fact
that the process can confuse the perplexed. Yes, the answers are all there
in the readmes and FAQ, and No, they never read them.

>I'm not sure it is wise to introduce the issue of ``the first language'' 
>into this thread ;-).  If we do, there are many more choices to consider 
>beyond C and Python.

Guilty as charged on that one. Perhaps there should be comp.lang.didactic
or c.l.where-do-i-start for that ever popular dicussion/flame war.


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