AlfredTwo

I'm not sure I can take someone seriously as a programmer if all they know for operating systems are Windows, Mac OS and flavors of UNIX/LINUX.

Seriously though, C is a good language but for back to basics you are talking assembly language at least. Preferably several assemply langages.

I would not leave Microsoft for any of them.

Rule number one - people new to the internet say Noob and not Newbie.

It might. I can imagine using some online conferencing tools like LiveMeeting (the one I know most about) or even sending code and doing Skype conversations. You'd be surprised at how few high schools teach programming BTW. Very sad.

LabVIEW is only one of many others I could have named. The three I named are the ones I personally use the most but of course there are many others. Several for programming robots for example.

Yeah I cut/pasted from my RSS reader

A bunch of comments showing up in the blog post. Several from students. Not everyone cares about cheating apparently.

Well yeah the opinions are biased. Teacher bias is a clear factor in success. That's the point. The second point is exactly that qualification is needed. What age group or goals do you have. hga seems to understand.