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Comment by krainboltgreene | Hacker News Reader

I was going to respond to a few things, but you linked to ESR's guide, the most condescending guide to hacking I know. Anyone who links to this guide seriously is usually not going to be swayed by even the best arguments.

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I'd be more than happy to hear your arguments. Perhaps I am missing some points you could show me clearly? Your original post lacked some explanation behind what you mean by word hacking itself and while at first kind of dismissed your post with ESR, I would like to know what do you think hacking is about? (As esr's text guided me somehow, your comment made me think i may actually be missing something)

    I think that starting with both Python and Ruby is 
    a bit strange idea - they are really similar (in almost
    every way I can think of)

Exactly the point. They are so similar that the transition from one to the next is easier than most other languages. Once you have an easy transition students will notice similar patterns. "Oh, looping. Hey, this is something that happens in both languages."

Not that your response is condescending, or anything.

Indeed - it's amazing how ESR has managed to convince so many people that the ultimate hacker is... Someone who is just like ESR.

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