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Thread: GUIDANCE

  1. #1
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    GUIDANCE

    IM NEW TO PROGRAMMING AND WOULD LIKE ADVICE ON A LANGUAGE TO START! THANX

  2. #2
    Disgruntled Postal Worker fourdc's Avatar
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    My son is taking an intro to programming course in college and they started the students on C++.

    It's just about universal and there are plenty of free compilers and IDE programs (integrated development environments) available.

    Good luck and remember to use remarks in that source code!
    ddddc

    "Somehow saying I told you so just doesn't cover it" Will Smith in I, Robot

  3. #3
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    IM NEW TO PROGRAMMING AND WOULD LIKE ADVICE ON A LANGUAGE TO START! THANX
    Might I suggest one that supports lower case alphabetic characters............. then you won't have to shout?


  4. #4
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    ^LoL^ I am not sure about jumping straight into C++ if your new to programming... If your really "new" I would try HTML just to get used to reading and writing in a specific fashion, then go with something like Visual Basics.

    On the other hand if your wanting to jump into it and try a little more advanced I would recommend JavaScript.

    Good Luck

  5. #5
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    HTML isn't a programming language, it's a formatting language.

    You should take a look at what kind of development you want to do and narrow the field down from there. If you really want to learn a language it's easier if you pick an area that you can give yourself projects to work on and that will keep you interested. If you name the field, I (or any number of other people here) can offer you some appropriate suggestions and probably materials to check out.

    C/C++, while having a greater learning curve, can be done by noobs as long as they pay attention to the resources they're using to learn the language and good programming/design practices.

    Scripting languages can be nice to start out with (I'd go perl, python, or ruby) and can generally be done on windows or *nix.

    C# and Java are useful for any number of project types and handle the majority of the memory management issues for you (which makes doing c/c++ a little harder). They also generally have more noob friendly (ish)threading, libraries, etc.

    I wouldn't do Visual Basic nowadays unless it's absolutely necessary.
    "When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes." - Erasmus
    "There is no programming language, no matter how structured, that will prevent programmers from writing bad programs." - L. Flon
    "Mischief my ass, you are an unethical moron." - chsh
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  6. #6
    I am not sure about jumping straight into C++ if your new to programming...
    I was thrown straight into C++ as my first. After a couple of semesters I came to the conclusion programming wasn't the career for me.

  7. #7
    Ninja Code Monkey
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    Quote Originally Posted by AngelicKnight
    I was thrown straight into C++ as my first. After a couple of semesters I came to the conclusion programming wasn't the career for me.
    Lol...I started out teaching myself C with some old books on the subject and at points I felt the same way. Part of the problem is that most books are written more to teach you the language syntax than good programming. In my experience many of the people teaching code aren't much better.
    "When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes." - Erasmus
    "There is no programming language, no matter how structured, that will prevent programmers from writing bad programs." - L. Flon
    "Mischief my ass, you are an unethical moron." - chsh
    Blog of X

  8. #8
    Disgruntled Postal Worker fourdc's Avatar
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    I started with Fortran, Cobol and Basic and quit programming for hardware.

    I've been able to read C++ when kernal hacking. I've had to help my son on a couple of labs for his course. Actually writing C++ isn't that bad. The Sams teach yourself C++ and of course the "dummies" books are quite good.

    One thing I've learned is to comment your code, it doesn't make the compiled program any larger but makes it a whole lot easier to collaborate or even read your own code then next day.
    ddddc

    "Somehow saying I told you so just doesn't cover it" Will Smith in I, Robot

  9. #9
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    The Sams teach yourself C++
    I've said this a dozen times but those are the most poorly written books I've read. Anyone who's actually read those "Teach Yourself C++ Within A Few Weeks" books will have a general idea of what im talking about. Teach yourself, indeed .

    If you're going to pick up a Sams book then atleast grab C++ Primer Plus instead. It truly picks up on where the other books failed.

  10. #10
    Disgruntled Postal Worker fourdc's Avatar
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    That's what his professor spec'd as a textbook, job security?

    I bought the "dummies" book.
    ddddc

    "Somehow saying I told you so just doesn't cover it" Will Smith in I, Robot

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