I learned FORTRAN by reading “The FORTRAN Coloring Book” over a weekend. Great for learning a second programming language (the first being BASIC on a Commodore PET).
That book presented programming concepts and syntax in a chatty, entertaining manner. I found it quite useful for my second language in that it allowed me to drink from the fire hose of information without being overwhelmed.
This article is quite similar in that regard, but I wonder how effective it would be for true novice: someone who had NOT already been exposed to concepts like if-then-else branching, subroutines and functions, etc.
In my experience, knowing a couple of programming language makes picking up another much easier. Even switching programming paradigms (e.g. object oriented vs a more traditional procedural model) is easier.
@denzuko - Thank you very much for posting this. I teach a bunch of Arduino classes and always cover a few C statements to show that programming is not magic but something they can learn. I’ll add this link to the Resources page of all my classes.
var i;
for (i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
read article;
} return ignorance