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Right, since I have the exact opposite experience and I can find a logical explanation for it.

I learned to drive in an automatic transmission car. I was still in terror when first learning to drive that car. Later on I got a new car, and since manual transmissions where cheaper I got a manual one. I was again terrorized every time I had to stop and get into first gear again, or when I was stopped in a hill. I can only imagine the absolute nightmare I would have been trough if I had to learn both how to operate the stick shift AND the rest of the car and laws of the road at the same time. I actually think progressive learning was better for me.

Same with programming, I learned GW Basic as a kid doing games and what not. Then switched to Pascal, then C and then ASM. I can only imagine how motivating it would have been to 10year old me having to write pages and pages of ASM just to do the simplest thing. Instead learning a easy high level language helped me stay motivated and learn progressively getting into harder stuff little by little.



Indeed. For every anecdote about "starting with assembly and working up" there is another about "starting with scripting languages and working down".




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