Learning to program stuff?

Ok, so I want to learn how to code stuff and to have expansion in general for other platforms of codeness, i.e. I could learn X code for Y application given some time, i.e. programming widgets or whatnot.



What I see logically is, learning an easy language first, so I can actually get the fundamentals for programming nuances behind me, then ramping up to something a bit more "meaty".

How does one go about generally becoming proficient like this? Learning C++ and moving onto others? Learning, like....PHP? Python? Java?

Any "how to think and do like a programmer" tutorials or books?

Anyone wanna suggest me any other suitable methods, especially how they learned to code?

(btw mods, I have no clue where to put this so just put it wherever if it needs to go there)

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I have only ever used 2 programming languages. Pascal and C++. I found Pascal to be an easy enough language to learn, but C++ was a lot more difficult for me to pick up.

I did this back in college 5 years ago, it you are serious about learning a new coding language then I would recommend going with Pascal to start with and see how you get on with that. I'm sure Google with have some free tutorials, and a compiler to practise with, or maybe even see if there are any beginners courses near you that you can sign up to.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I learned programming with QBasic. I found it suitable and awesome. Once I understood the basics, it was a cake walk to pick up the syntax idiosyncrasies of modern languages like C++ and Java.

The best way to learn programming (or anything) is to have a mini-goals. Something you want done because it'd be cool to see, or useful in some way. That way, you'll have the drive to keep going past obstacles (and weird things that just don't make any fucking sense ). Also, once you get this done, it'll be neat to behold or useful in some way and it'll make you happy.
You can't just learn for the heck of it. That just sucks and doesn't work. Make yourself tons of minigoals and you'll pick up things by doing them.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by neus

I learned programming with QBasic. I found it suitable and awesome. Once I understood the basics, it was a cake walk to pick up the syntax idiosyncrasies of modern languages like C++ and Java.

Similarly, I started just using Visual Basic then went on to Java, C++ and C. For Java I used a pretty well written textbook written by a friend of my teacher, but I don't think it was ever widely published.

How ya doing, buddy?

Moving to OS and Software.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Start with visual basic. VB6 is cheap and easy to program with. VB .net is also a fairly powerful programing language, so it isn't like learning VB is completely useless and from my own experience in the corporate world, visual basic is by far the most useful programing langauge because of how easy it is to use and how quickly you can code with it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I mentored under one of the most revered undergraduate educators, and he argues that Java is the best programming language to teach to new students for a variety of reasons.

However, I think that if I were self-taught instead of learning in a classroom setting, then I would highly, highly recommend C#.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/default.aspx

For one, you can get a completely free version of Visual Studio Express, which is not far off from Visual Studio Enterprise, just the ability to build applications for distribution. The syntax and structure is not far off from Java. I think Java is better in a classroom setting because there aren't really any great full-featured IDEs so you focus on structure, where you can't really do C# or VB.NET without it. Self-teaching yourself, being able to look at an IDE and whip up forms in a flash make it easier to stay interested.


Visual Basic is the most useful programming language, but you're going to have a very hard time getting a good job without a degree so it's not really worth worrying about that if you just want to learn for fun.

However, I will strongly disagree with what gumby just said. If you learn VB6 first you will never become a good programmer. The chances of a person learning how to code properly after starting with VB6 is probably like 5%. It is one of the most god-awful languages ever written and it is widely used because Microsoft wrote a good IDE (for its time) and because it was easy to learn. But it makes it a night made to learn to actually program well. You should avoid VB6 at all costs.

I also work at a place that used VB6 exclusively until I got there (I started the transition to VB.NET) and the people who started with VB6 write some of the worst code I've ever seen. They would have had trouble getting a C in my intro courses when I used to teach.

Java or C# are definitely the languages you should start with and, then, if you're adventurous, C++. And depending on what you want to do you could always learn Perl/PHP/Python, but they aren't the best starter languages because of their syntaxes.

FELIPE NO

I started with Basic and Visual Basic. However, I wouldn't recommend it as (1) switching to Linux meant that I couln't use VB anymore and (2) these languages give you very bad programming habits. PHP seems to be a good language to start with, Python could be good too, and I even know someone who started right with C...

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

C actually isn't a terrible language to start out with, it's just harder to grasp concepts in.

C++ is an awful language to start with. It makes customization too easy, so you end up being crutched whenever you make mistakes.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by BlueMikey

However, I will strongly disagree with what gumby just said. If you learn VB6 first you will never become a good programmer. The chances of a person learning how to code properly after starting with VB6 is probably like 5%. It is one of the most god-awful languages ever written and it is widely used because Microsoft wrote a good IDE (for its time) and because it was easy to learn. But it makes it a night made to learn to actually program well. You should avoid VB6 at all costs.

;______;

I took my first class back in high school in Visual Basic and after that I took C++. I think either one's not that difficult to learn off of, you just need a decent textbook to walk you through each concept, one at a time.

I'd definitely recommend a book over following some website because then, at least, you wouldn't have to keep swapping windows and there'd be no temptation to copy and paste code over (and don't buy "X for Dummies", look up a real textbook with decent reviews and get that).

Most amazing jew boots

I'd pick something popular and portable to start in - C++, Java, Python, something like that. The best way to learn to code is to code. See if some university around you posts their projects for their intro to programming classes and try and do those projects if you need ideas. http//www.cse.msu.edu/~cse231/ and http://www.cse.msu.edu/~cse232/ for instance. Reading can help you learn basic syntax and good concepts, but there's no teacher like experience for coding.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I used to program for mi TI-83 (yeah I see you guys laughing) and I just started learning JAVA (all by myself).

Actually, it is quite easy. In four days, I already understand the structure of the language and many of the functions are similar to the ones I used for the TI-83.

Hopefully, by programming a lot , I'll be able to advance. Maybe in a year, I'll be good enough...who knows....

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

And I thought I was the only one who would program on my good ol TI-83. Good times there.

I feel C# is a good language. It's easy, is similar to Java and C, but will allow you to work with the basics and learn them well before you go for more advance stuff.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Well, duh, what else is there to do during high school math classes other than programming your TI-83?

First of all, I'm going to start by saying that I don't necessarily believe that the language you choose really matters (well, there ARE exceptions). The first reason is that most modern languages look and feel fairly similar. There are exceptions, like Perl and Lisp, but in most cases you'll be able to learn a new language relatively quickly after you've learned one. The second is that one of the goal at first isn't so much to learn the language, but to learn how to solve problems. The process is similar for all language since they are all, after all, equivalent. The third reason is that you also want to get a feel for what it means to write good, elegant, efficient code, and that will stay with you no matter what language you learn. For example, I had to learn Fortran for a course this semester. Without having ever really done any Fortran before, I already had a fairly good idea what to do and what not to do when coding, from my previous experience.

With that said, there are languages you should avoid. Anything with BASIC in the name, for one (so from now on BASIC==VB,QBasic,etc). BlueMikey puts it better than I can. Well, I guess it's not entirely true, a little BASIC won't hurt you, as long as you move away as soon as you've written anything with more than 50 lines of code. Even that might be too much. The danger is that if you start trying to write, say, a program to solve differential equations with a Runge-Kutta method, trying to make the whole thing interactive so that the user can type the equation in, then you'll spend months trying to make something work, and the simple, but inefficient and unstructured BASIC syntax will stick with you whether you like it or not. Once you'll get to C, or whatever other language you choose, you'll have a really hard time getting used to a more structured syntax, and it's likely you'll never be able to get used to it completely.

Though frankly, if you're going as far as doing what I said in BASIC, you're a masochist, and you might as well write the whole thing in COBOL. This way you'll have experience when a major bank needs to modify their financial system that dates back from 1971, and realize that the only other person that knows COBOL in the province (or state) is senile. They pay real good, actually, if what I've heard is true.

Well, that aside, the only other advice I can give you is this: program. You can read all you want, but that won't make you capable of programming. You might think you know how to program since you can understand all the examples in your book, but as soon as you'll be faced with coding something more complicated than "Hello World", you'll realize that you can't program. If you do practice, the first thing you'll notice is, you'll make less and less syntax errors that keep your programs from even compiling (if you're in C/C++, that means less missing ";" at the end of your lines, then less time spent asking yourself if you need a ";" after a while loop, then...). Then you'll start catching bugs before you've even compiled your program (in C/C++, you WILL use = instead of == for a condition at least once, and spend quite some time looking for the bug. Then you'll never forget again). Eventually you'll really know the syntax, but most importantly, you'll learn how to write good code, and you'll develop your own style.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?