programming

[ryn1727]

im new to programing and i dont know very much about it, wich type of programing should i start out with and wich would be the most useful type of programing to use, and are there any websites that i can learn to program from?

[jetblackz]

Do you have any programming background? VCR programming counts. :)

Links? A ton. Can't list 'em all. What you might want to do is search for

c programming

, for example, on www.google.com and I got this

http://www.strath.ac.uk/IT/Docs/Ccourse/

and much more. Replace c with any other languages like c++, java, php, perl, cgi, bash, etc.

[ryn1727]

no i dont have any backround in programming and i barley know anything about it im just obsessed with computers and i want to learn to do more wich is why i made the switch to Linux about a week ago, and so now im trying to find out wich type of programming lanuage would be the best too learn, and im kind of leaning twards learning c++

[dungscooperdave]

I would personally start with C before C++, but that's just me and I don't really know anything anyway so....

[Dun'kalis]

Most concepts in programming are the same between programming languages. Learning one language will make most others easier to learn.

I'd recommend Python. Very easy, very fun. Its an interpreted language, but its a real programming language.

Scheme is also lots of fun, but barely anything is written in Scheme. Its great for hacking together simple programs, though.

www.python.org
www.plt-scheme.org/software/mzscheme

GNU has their own Scheme interpreter, Guile, but I prefer MzScheme.

Be warned: After learning Scheme, you'll want everything to look like Scheme.

[dungscooperdave]

blaaa
Interpreted languages = bad :p
Or at least I don't like them very much. Who wants to carry around another program just so that you can run your own program?

[AdaHacker]

Originally posted by dungscooperdave
blaaa
Interpreted languages = bad :p

compiled languages = bad :D
Who wants to sit around waiting for a program to build when you could be running it?

But anyway...
Most procedural languages like C, Java, Perl, and Python operate on pretty much the same concepts, e.g. if you write an algorithm in C, you can translate it pretty much directly into Perl. However, this is not true when moving between language families. For examle, if you go from C to Prolog, you will find that suddenly everything you know about programming is completely useless and irrelevant. In fact, when it comes to Prolog, procedural habits are more of a handicap than anything else.

Of course, unless you go looking for it, you're not likely to run across a lot of Prolog, Lisp (unless you use emacs), Smalltalk, or APL, but it's a good thing to know about other methods of programming. A lot of people these days seem to think that nothing exists besides C++ and Java. I say, learn (or learn about) a non-procedural language as well, just to round things out. If nothing else, it'll give you some perspective.

While I'm at it, I might as well stick in a plug for my personal favorite procedural language: Ada95. On the down side, it's not very popular and it's a rather large language (i.e. lots of standard libraries), but on the up side, it's a systems programming language (like C), it's clean and easy to read, it supports object oriented programming, and it forces you to learn to develop software the right way. Plus it's extra run-time and compile-time checks make it way easier to debug than C/C++. Anyone who's interested can find a compiler here (ftp://cs.nyu.edu/pub/gnat) and some information here (http://www.adahome.com) and here (http://www.adapower.com).

[cyh781s]

I would say java. The first programming language I learned was java and in my opinion it was pretty easy to learn. I had no programming background when I tried java I have to mention it. :)

But since you already said that you are "leaning" toward C++, then go ahead to get some web or some books and study for it. It is very important to learn a programming language that you are interested in.

I guess you know the answer now :)

peace

[Dun'kalis]

I say, learn (or learn about) a non-procedural language as well, just to round things out. If nothing else, it'll give you some perspective.

I'll plug Scheme again. Its a dialect of Lisp. Functional languages rule!

[truls]

Having briefly looked at Python I'd recommend learning this first. You'll learn the basics of programming and how to put a program together, which is the most important thing you can learn.

Basically you'll want a language that is easy, and that you can start making programs with at once. Python seems to fulfill both these things and gets my recommendation.

After you've learn the basics of making a program, learning any other language is much easier. It's just a question of syntax.

[SonOfAres]

I'm in almost the exact same position, love comps and wanna program (my dream job, after a pro drummer), I'm *trying* to learn C++ right now from a For Dummies book. As far as I'm getting I'm understanding it with *little* difficulty, it seems to be pretty good and is commonly used....

[clembot]

I recommend learning python. It's clean, simple, relatively easy to learn, but powerful at the same time. Plus, www.python.org (http://www.python.org) is a great website with lots of resources.:)

[threadhead]

Originally posted by ryn1727
im new to programing and i dont know very much about it, wich type of programing should i start out with and wich would be the most useful type of programing to use, and are there any websites that i can learn to program from?

well it really depends on what you want to use your programming skills
for.

its most likely to start with C as a linux/unix user, because unix is coded
in C. aswell linux is.
C is great if you want to use your programming skills for developing
purposes.

well scripting languages like java are easier to learn as a first language. but arent as powerful (oh that could end up in flaming each other :D)

well pick something that fits you the most.
as did i. ;)

hope that helps

[Dun'kalis]

Java isn't a scripting language. Its a compiled language, but its compiled to a virtual machine. Its quite powerful, but (IMHO) not easy at all.

[threadhead]

>>Java isn't a scripting language. Its a compiled language

sorry about this.

[RichMac]

we've been doing java at school and absolutely none of it sticks in my head. I have to look up every litttle command. I've been doing a bit of bash on my own and I like it, speeds things up in *nix, don't know if you'd count that as programing though, but its a start imo