Some Questions on Computer Programming

Dourht · Post by **Dourht** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 1:41 am

Ok, so recently I have decided to go into the Computer Programming career. The ironic thing is that i know nothing about this subject. I have looked at tutorials on the net, but none of them seem to help. So anyone know any good books/websites that would benefit a newbie programmer?

Ok, heres the second part. There are many computer languages, but i dont know which one(s) i should learn. Oh and Can you tell me the difference between some of the languages?

All of this would be greatly appreciated.

This is going to decide what im going to do with my life.

Isabelle · Post by **Isabelle** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 2:02 am

the book, learn C in 21 days, very helpful.

as with anything, it requires a desire to learn, and it requires a desire to finish what you start.

If you stick with it, you will succeed.

Once you learn C, you can learn C++, and once you have learned both, you can continue on, picking up new ones as you go, taking practical knowledge learned from the previous lessons to guide you further.

Chilliwack · Post by **Chilliwack** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 2:29 am

VISUAL BASIC ALL THE WAY

Kiasyn · Post by **Kiasyn** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 3:05 am

Chilliwack wrote:VISUAL BASIC ALL THE WAY

Visual Basic sucks.

Kiasyn · Post by **Kiasyn** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 3:07 am

C is a procedural language.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procedural_programming

C++ is an object oriented language.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_oriented

There are links to other types of programming languages at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_paradigm

EDIT: Both C and C++ are low-level languages.

Post by **Celeborn** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 7:52 am

If you want to code for earning your money, I would suggest starting with learning the basics behind PHP and MySQL. It wont take that long to learn and its easyer to find /some/ work with it when you are still at a beginners level.

Languages like C and C++ have the disadvantage that they take years to master and several generations are already very adept at them. If you want to truely master modern languages I really recommend you join a course (university or otherwise).

Zeraphin · Post by **Zeraphin** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 11:53 am

Agreed with Celeborn's advice. However, a further note:

LEARN C++. Whatever you do, make sure you eventually learn it. The general syntax from C (And if you're going to learn C, you might as well learn C++) has be reused in several other languages, and the concepts are used in many other more modern languages.

DO NOT learn Java before C++. I'm telling you this from personal experience with other programmers I work with. C++ programmers have a very easy time learning Java, but those programmers who learned Java first struggle to learn C++. The concepts that Java teach don't translate well into C++, however C++ has concepts that DO translate into Java.

That and I hate Java. Its slow and clunky, a good prototype for what it was meant to do, but newer and better things have arrived since, such as C#.

PHP and MySQL are both good to learn if you want to do web developement. There's several differences, but if you had already known C++ you could pick up PHP in under a week, easily. The syntax is based roughly on C/C++.

And I can't stress this one enough: If you plan to do webpages, learn to use 100% valid XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS.

Chilliwack · Post by **Chilliwack** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 1:53 pm

visual basic rawks... so do quotes of quotes[/quote]

Dunadan · Post by **Dunadan** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 4:43 pm

With any language you're coding in it takes time and practice to get really good at it. Theres lots of books on how to code in certain languages that are good for learning special syntaxes and rules of the language but theres more to coding then just knowing the language. It also has a lot to do with planning/problem solving/ testing etc, and like others said joining a course or university is a good way to strengthen these skills and practice them. But if you want to just do programming for entertainment its always fun to just screw around til you figure something out

.

Zidane · Post by **Zidane** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 7:36 pm

Dunadan wrote:With any language you're coding in it takes time and practice to get really good at it. Theres lots of books on how to code in certain languages that are good for learning special syntaxes and rules of the language but theres more to coding then just knowing the language. It also has a lot to do with planning/problem solving/ testing etc, and like others said joining a course or university is a good way to strengthen these skills and practice them. But if you want to just do programming for entertainment its always fun to just screw around til you figure something out .

i have to agree with dunadan here

weems · Post by **weems** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 7:43 pm

kiasyn wrote:C is a procedural language.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procedural_programming

C++ is an object oriented language.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_oriented

There are links to other types of programming languages at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_paradigm

EDIT: Both C and C++ are low-level languages.

Um, no. They are high level languages.

Low level would be like assembly, or machine language.

Quintos · Post by **Quintos** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 8:11 pm

Binary for life! Only the hardcore code in Base 2!

Chilliwack · Post by **Chilliwack** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 2:47 pm

visual basic is low level

weems · Post by **weems** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 3:53 pm

Chilliwack wrote:visual basic is low level

No, it is not. It is high level.

Dunadan · Post by **Dunadan** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 4:31 pm

High level languages are those that are not machine code/assembly language and require compilers/interpreters in order to run them.

High level languages are usually a lot easier to code in and for that reason most the languages people code in are considered high level.