Timeline for What should every programmer know about programming?
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
8 events
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| Dec 30, 2010 at 11:23 | comment | added | Dario | @Chinmay, EnderMB: Exactly, indirection is the point here. In any language (except proably Haskell), you need to know indirection to understand how and where data will change. | |
| Sep 27, 2010 at 11:55 | comment | added | Roger Pate |
@Chinmay: A Python/Java/C# programmer that doesn't understand the concept of pointers is lost. L = [[]] * 2; L[0].append(42) Different languages use different names, but indirection is essential everywhere.
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| Sep 15, 2010 at 18:31 | history | made wiki | Post Made Community Wiki | ||
| Sep 13, 2010 at 14:54 | comment | added | Mike B | @mathepic You'll be shaken to your very core if you were to learn how many CS students graduate each year that don't understand the first thing about pointers. If I hadn't gone out of my way to take placements each summer I wouldn't have even been taught about pointers in C or references in Java... | |
| Sep 9, 2010 at 23:25 | comment | added | Chinmay Kanchi | That really depends on what you mean by pointer. If you mean C-style pointers that you can manipulate (which is what I assumed), I would argue that a Java/C#/Python programmer doesn't need to know anything about them. If you mean pointer as in Java's "references", i.e., a pointer that can't be fiddled with, then yes, some knowledge of them is necessary, if only to prevent you from slipping up. | |
| Sep 9, 2010 at 20:04 | comment | added | alternative | @Chinay Kanchi No. Pointers should be understood by everyone. | |
| Sep 9, 2010 at 16:29 | comment | added | Chinmay Kanchi | Pointers are only really necessary in a subset of languages for a small subset of tasks. For most tasks, you can (and should be able to) program as if the concept of a pointer didn't exist. | |
| Sep 9, 2010 at 16:27 | history | answered | Laurynas Biveinis | CC BY-SA 2.5 |