Code Fest

I've been tutoring a friend learning Java. Each week they have a different assignment designed to help them learn a particular concept. Just for fun, I decided I would complete the assignment as well. I'm a big believer in revision, i.e. it's more useful to revise a complete program than to just complete it.When you complete it, you're concentrating on getting it to work. This is especially true of an inexperienced programmer. So by writing the program myself, I was better able to suggest revisions that would demonstrate the concepts being taught.

Plus it's fun. I figured out that what would be even more fun would be to write the programs in different languages. So I picked three: C#, C++, and Ruby. I'm doing each assignment myself in those three languages, plus Java, of course. I picked these languages because I know each, but don't use them on a regular basis and they are all "relevant." I know Fortran (or I did in high school,) but what would be the point in that? I also know Perl, but I would rather do most Perl things in Ruby, and I don't know Ruby as well as I know Perl. I am still considering adding Python, a language I don't know at all.

Anyways, here's the first assignment. I am giving each assignment it's own web page, but I will link a blog entry to each. And here's the second assignment.