From: bowman AT montana DOT com (bowman) Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp Subject: Re: Is DJGPP really suitable for beginners? References: User-Agent: slrn/0.9.5.7 (UNIX) Lines: 30 Message-ID: Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2000 15:55:20 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 208.4.224.52 X-Trace: newsfeed.slurp.net 946828520 208.4.224.52 (Sun, 02 Jan 2000 09:55:20 CDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2000 09:55:20 CDT To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com Eli Zaretskii 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.