New to programming, Class or no Class?

I was wondering what is the best way to get into programming? I want to be eventually program C++, I know I need a compiler, which one should I use? MSVC++ or Borland? Or other? Please let me know.

My question is, I been doing web development for about 18 months, I am getting into PHP, and I really love the aspect of programming on the web, if you can consider it programming on the web. Anyway I was wondering, what is the best way to get into programming? Should I read tutorials, manuals, books, or take a class on c++ programming?

What steps should I take to be good at it? I think i might do it as a career, anyone else here a programmer? I would appreciate any and all suggestions, useful websites, book suggestions or anything else that may be of use.

BTW, if you are a programmer, can you post or pm me, what you do, how you got the job etc?

Thanks in advance.

If you're doing windows prog. I would suggest DJGPP (Very similar to *nix C++).
I read everything i get my hands on. Manuals , e-books, libraries, etc... Classes are great if you have money... If there was anything i'd say to a newbie programmer- it would have to be... "comment your code" please. i know it may seem kinda stupid, but when you start working on big projects- it's a must... anyway- good luck...

http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/
http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/compile/

I think many AOans are programmers, myself included. Your question has been asked before, and there some differing views on the best way to get into programming. Since you're already doing PHP, you may want to stay in a language that is fairly similar to PHP -- like Perl. If C++ is what you want to become proficient at, you may want to start with it instead. It really depends on what you eventually want to do with your programming skills, and in the end it's really up to you.

Personally, I'm more of a scripter than a programmer. I am a full-time Unix system administrator, and I'm proficient in a number of scripting languages that I use to automate as much of my job as I can. I also run my department's internal documentation website, so I'm pretty proficient in several web technologies and databases like PHP, MySQL, XHTML, CGI, etc.

One of the best ways to learn programming, that I have found, is to have lots of projects. If you're a web programmer, try writing some of your more involved PHP scripts as a CGI in another language (C++ can be used as a CGI language). From there, move on to projects on your operating system. If you're on a Windows machine, try writing some simple programs to replace the Windows calculator, or create some kind of file manager. Anything you can think of. I feel that there are many more opportunities for these kinds of smaller projects in Linux/Unix, so you may want to try installing one of those OS's to practice on. I find that when I have a project that I want to complete, I will learn whatever I can to accomplish the project and nothing more. This is a good model for learning in increments. Just make sure that you start off with some simple projects and work your way up. As you work your projects, you'll pick up more and more programming concepts, and you'll even start looking at each project from a software design standpoint. Best of luck to you, and keep us posted on your progress! :bigsmile:

If your learning to program in windows i would recommend Borland.
I personally learnt to program in Borland C++ Builder 5, and you can get some really good books written for it(published by Sam or something like that).

I got the job because my freinds dad owns his own company, I got talking to him oneday, he saw that i was very interested and asked if i wanted to join the company to learn.
So my advice to you would be to try and locate a company with a software development department and write a letter to ask if there looking to take on a trainee. you never know you might get lucky!
Like roswell said about the calculator program, thats what i did, its a great way of picking things up.

-aX

tampabay: DJGPP does not produce native Windows applications, it's a DOS compiler (and can under some circumstances be run in a dos box). This limits the usefulness of the programs it produces on Windows.

For a free compiler use MingW instead as this does produce native Windows binaries.

slarty, that would explain alot...
what c++ compiler for windows is most true to *nix style c?

Thanks for the detailed posts, I plan to take classes at a local community college, while I'm still in high school.

I want to be a System Admin like you roswell for a career. What certifications do you have? I read from a manual, and several newsgroup that you can get a job easier and make more money the more certs you have. Do you suggest anything I should aim for first? What do you think of the online certs, do you know if they are "credited" or just an easy thing to get and has no real meaning.

Let me know, and thanks to all who has responded so far.

Cheers

kOc

What do you mean by *nix style c? C/C++ isn't any differant on *nix than it is on windows it's just the commands are slightly different. Slarty recommended MingW which is a good compiler. If you want an IDE, debugger and all that with it you should get Dev-C++ from bloodshed, it's pretty good.

-gunder

For a good compiler enviroment I like to use Dev-C++, I am very lazy and prefer to work inside a development enviroment rather then from the command line. The choice is yours. I have tryed one of Borlands Compiler kits, I also tryed DJGPP, LCC, and useing Mingw32 from command line.

I personaly think you can learn all of programing on your own just by reading books, tutorials, and refernce manuals, and asking wuestions when you get stuck.

I learned a bit of C in College, befor that however I was programing on my own at home with Qbasic. I got interested in programing after playing a game called AI wars. http://www.tacticalneuronics.com/content/main.asp

It required you to use a special language to program your own robot and send it out into a battle feild. That was what got me interested.

But I think the best way to learn is to experiment. Some people like the Play first Learn later aproach, But reading tutorials, books, refernces, experimenting and asking questions is how I learned how to program.

That game indeed look interesting. Thanks for all the advice I got.

Any good website with tutorials for complete beginners?

Tampabay, you can run gcc(the premiere FREE *nix compiler suite) on Windows using Cygwin:
www.cygwin.com
This will allow you to build all sorts of GNU type stuff, as well as your own stuff.