>>I just finished the "Rise and Resurection of the American Programmer"
>>and in it Ed Yourdon asks a very good question: If you child wanted to get into computers now what language would you suggest?
>>
>>Would it be FoxPro?
>
>It's probably easier to teach a higher level language such as VFP or VB. However, C++ is used to teach programming principles in a number of colleges and universities. One of the advantages of learning a low level language is that you must also learn the underlying OS. I think that this is an important and underemphasized consideration.
>
>I'd agree with BOb, VC++.

George, you make a good point re the importantance of understanding something about the OS when learning to program. I've been away from academia for some time now, but when I taught programming the low-level language class was IBM 360 assembler; it was considered the "cut class" by most students and profs since it separated the contenders from the pretenders, and those who did well in it went on to be the better students in the higher-level language classes. So I agree: C or BASIC to learn the fundamentals of programming, C++ to learn OOP, then on to VFP for real productivity in developing data-centric apps.