Programming...

[bdanner302]

Greetings,

I'm interested in learning about programming... is it something you can do on your own in the house.... or do you need a friend/teacher to help ya out?

Can someone pick a langauge to start me out with, maybe C++? If this a feesible task to do on my own in my house.... then anybody know of a good site?

Sry for posting like such a dufess

[rcvalencia9]

I think you should start from a low level to high level programming. It will make things easier.

One of the first PL(Programming Language) you should learn is Turbo Assembler. Its a PL that dont used reserved words/built in fuctions. The coding includes memory addressing. One of the best low level PL. Then learn Turbo Pascal. Its a high-level PL, that uses already reserved words/functions. Then learn the C Language, did you know that C language was the PL used to program the first Windows OS. I think you should learn it and really put your heart into it with C++/Visual C++ for you to learn the 4th Generation PLs(Java, Visual Basic .Net ,ASP,etc)

Borland Pubs., provides a User's Guide and Programmer's Guide for you to self-learn this PLs.

[HyperTF]

I agree with rcvalencia9 if you are looking at sound, long term expert learning and prospects like in a career, but if you want to have real fun at home, and design and build some great software I recommend learning Visual Basic. I am qualified VB programmer and it is great, especially for beginners, but it is good to try to get a good grasp on Algorithms and basic programming concepts which you can gain from books and resources online too (but that goes for any language). VB gets my vote but I might be a bit biased

[kram 2.0]

I started out with JAVA - although JAVA is pretty complicated IMO as a starting language, it will get you in a very good footing in the Programming Relam if you learn it well. Java, like other languages, is a C-based language so technically, most programming languages are very similar, except for several syntactical differences. From there, you can go onto C++, or even learn Web Dev with PHP, Javascript, etc.

kram

[idolcrash]

While Perl isn't necessarily considered programming by some, it is quite a powerful language that can do quite a bit for scripting and such, I am working on learning it and plan to learn Java soon and C a little later.

[rcvalencia9]

Just want to add, that almost all PLs today is just an evolution from C/C++,their syntax(just kram just said) only differentiate them from each other. Java, Perl & ASP are just some of the in demand PLs today. Programming is my life and focusing a career into it with a little of networking.

[Force Flow]

C++, Java and PHP are all C based, so learning any one of them makes learning any of the others easier.

I wouldn't suggest low-level programming unless it's something you're really interested in. It's very tedious. Stick with the languages that are commonly in use today.

[mattg2k4]

I agree, there is no need for the majority of programmers to know anything about assembly programming. It is rather fun if you're into programming PIC microcontrollers, but that is about the only hobbyist use there is for assembly.

VB is an extremely easy language to start out on, you can quickly and easily develop reasonably useful programs, and you will pick up basic command structures and techniques that will help you in other languages. That said, it isn't as good for some low level stuff like hardware access and file I/O, in which case C++ is decidedly superior. It is also much more difficult to develop GUI's in C++ than VB. Java is a good language which is handy in that it can run on many platforms and on websites, and GUI's are easy to make, but it's worse than VB when you try to access hardware or files.

So aside from PHP, Perl, and ASP which I have only fleeting experience with, C++ is my first recomendation if you are ready for it's complexity, Java next for its versatility, and VB only if you find yourself having trouble learning C++ or Java.

[Dark Nova]

I suggest you start with a recent version (eayer to understand).

By the way
I started with pascal, and i must say its much more difficult then C/C++
In our days they use visuel concepts (visuel items). Im working with Boorland delphi now, its pretty much the same as VB

[HNPFL]

I started out learning Visual Basic. C++ and java are good. PHP is harder to set up at home because you need IIS and all sorts of things(this is for windows) if your new stay away from server side scripting languages like ASP, PHP, .NET, Perl, all the Cgi's. It also depends on what you want to make. If you aspire to make websites then you can think about the server side languages but if you want to make games or math programs try C++, JAVA, VB6(visual basic 6), or even Basic, which will teach you the basic programming fundamentals.