IT Employment

I agree with Dian Schaffhauser comment that ".NET is still a doable technology for a beginning programmer."

The idea that ".NET shouldn?t be the first technology new programmers learn" and that you should "Get solid coding experience in another established development environment" seems a little like saying "learn to play the violin so you'll be a great piano player." True, in both cases you'll learn a lot about music, but you'll be a lot further ahead if you learn using the instrument you want to be able to play in the end.

And the comment that one should learn OOP and XML "before jumping into .NET" is fallacious also. Why not learn these concepts within the context of the language you're trying to learn in the first place? I'm at a lost at how someone could really learn OOP and XML without actually working with it. You're not going to learn to ride a horse unless you climb on its back and start the ride!

Don't scare off those wanting to jump into .NET right away. Why do you suppose children learn foreign languages, computers, and music so easily? Because they don't know that they should be afraid of learning. Reading your article makes learning .NET seem absolutely scary! It?s not. You CAN get started in .NET right away and still properly learn OOP and XML concepts without learning some other development environment first.