advice on coding or whatever you would call it.

awhir

ok im only 15 and want to get a idea off coding what does it consist off.i know that there are many diffrent types.i would like to try a language out and try to learn it but not knowing a thing its kinda hard what to even pick.

just wondering in IT what would you be doing

since i like pc i would like to do something with them in college ,any ideas.

ok this may not make much sence, guess im not very good at english.

im very confused at the moment also.so if anyone can make head or toe of this please leave a post.

Mutant_Fruit

Imagine an mp3 file. Imagine it's the first mp3 file ever and noone else has ever played back an mp3 file. You know roughly how it's all put together (say you know 90-95%, the rest is a little guesswork) and you want to make a program to play the mp3.

So you sit down and do it in stages. You first take your mp3, load it up and try to write lines of code to read the basic information from it (id3 tags). Then the next step would be splitting the mp3 file up into each individual music "frame". Once that works, you'll start working on actual code to use those frames to generate an output.

A good coder is more about being able to think of each step you have to take in order to solve a problem rather than about knowing 100 different programming languages. A good coder could pick up languages fairly fast. Coding is problem solving in really really small steps

awhir

hmm me like the idea so coding i highly maths and fis.i wana learn a language what would you recomend for a No0b

Creamy Goodness

i would start off with C.

it's not a hugely difficult language to start learning but it's designed in such a way to get you coding in the right way (eg. memory management in C as oppose to the likes of Java). this makes moving to other languages much easier if you have the concepts of coding efficently

awhir

ok then gona try c do i need to be beside a pc at all time when doing this because renember my bro having a some guide book to c++ or httcp or something.if i could learn it form would be reading it in after school study to free up some time.

also what would your advice be on a computer subject in college.

awhir

any of these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/C-Programming-Language-2nd/dp/0131103628/sr=8-1/qid=1161110706/ref=pd_ka_1/202-7613480-0290236?ie=UTF8&s=books

http://amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/202-7613480-0290236?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=c&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go

Dooom

You're only 15, there'll be a ton more college courses when it's time. In the meantime look for things along the lines of Computer Science I'd say.

And if you do a search, you'll find free coding tutorials, no need to buy a book unless you want to...

awhir

would wana buy a book so i can read it in school.so any good books ?

Anti

your only 15........

I thought you were about my age from what ive seen you post around here.

Anyway back on topic. I would agree any C language to star off with. then move onto html, asp stuff like that

Also, ive noticed how bad your english is untill tonight. Weird that !

awhir

lol never bothered with english and im a fast typer also my sppeellinng is extreamly bad

so any ideas on books.

Idleater

awhir wrote:

lol never bothered with english and im a fast typer also my sppeellinng is extreamly bad

English would be a good idea because it is a "business language" so you will not only have to code, but also comment your code which will require English.

BTW, spelling mistakes negates fast typing...

L.

awhir

ok im not that bad ,lol.

PogMoThoin

Can't believe your only 15, man you know alot bout pc's for a 15yo, then again i was puttin together small progs in "basic" at your age. How things have changed.

From what i remember of C, its pretty simple, did it years ago (12 yrs ago, showin my age now ) when i did electronics. You should pick it up fairly handy. You def need to get in2 some good electronics course when ya finish school, your path is chosen.

good luck
Pog

Anti

pog got a new padawan

May the force be with you both

PogMoThoin

anti wrote:

pog got a new padawan

May the force be with you both

"Awhir, I am your father"

Creamy Goodness

http://www.amazon.co.uk/C-Programming-Language-2nd/dp/0131103628/sr=8-1/qid=1161110706/ref=pd_ka_1/202-7613480-0290236?ie=UTF8&s=books

awhir, that book is the bible. i have it myself and i've been learning C now about a year. I wouldn't go learn straight from that book though as it's text is very small and doesn't explain things that easily especially for beginners.

i started learning last year with the help of this site http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial.html#ctutorial and "A beginners guide to C" by paul kelly. this book is not the best (only bought it because he's my lecturer and lab work is based on questions in it ) and i found that many sites on the net much more benefical.

generalmiaow

this might be controversial, but don't disregard the "[$ProgrammingLanguage] For Dummies" books either. If you know anything about a programming language they're at least redundant and at most useless, but if you're completely new, they're a good way to get started and they tend to answer a lot of the questions that most people just "figure out".
I was writing a few BASIC programs way back when I had a C64, which was fun and led to many other things being learned, but I'm assuming you're not posting from a C64. You could try a scripting language like PHP (not that it's the only one, and its scope might be limited for you) if you like the look of it, what's great about scripting languages is that you can view the code other people wrote and tinker around with it, maybe add a few features or tailor it to your needs, or integrate it with another script. That's not to say you can't get good examples for C, and you're not going to be writing the sequel to F.E.A.R. in php but learning a few hacks and writing scripts is a fun way of getting into programming.

EvilMonkey

I know its not c but what about this.
Episode 1 you are shown how to download and install the IDE and by episode 3 you have made a game. :eek:
Their is links to hi res versions on the video pages.

Anti

never post here again ......

Khannie

Cremo wrote:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/C-Programming-Language-2nd/dp/0131103628/sr=8-1/qid=1161110706/ref=pd_ka_1/202-7613480-0290236?ie=UTF8&s=books

awhir, that book is the bible. i have it myself and i've been learning C now about a year. I wouldn't go learn straight from that book though as it's text is very small and doesn't explain things that easily especially for beginners.

Do not buy this book when starting out. It is only useful as a reference (sorry cremo, but them's the facts). I bought this book because it's "the bible". Shockin' waste of money.

Cremo wrote:

i started learning last year with the help of this site http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial.html#ctutorial and "A beginners guide to C" by paul kelly. this book is not the best (only bought it because he's my lecturer and lab work is based on questions in it ) and i found that many sites on the net much more benefical.

Paul Kelly's book is alright IMO. He taught me c++ in college (and lives down the road from me ). You're probably doing the same course that I did all those moons ago.

I think C is a bad first language myself. At 15, I think you should start out with java. I code leak free c++ for a living myself so before anyone hops on memory management as an issue, it can be learned later tbh (and understood more easily too). Getting a good grounding in problem solving with a general language and object orientation is much more important IMO.

Java ftw! (when you're teaching yourself that is, don't annoy me challengemaster ).

ethernet

As a fellow teen, I must say I'm happy I started with HTML. Can't believe the crap Word spits out when you save files as HTML code. After that, maybe Javascript? I'm dabbling in PHP, MySQL and Apache right now, with just a bit of C and Java thrown in to confuse me [not joking -- see attachment!].

I'd suggest you try something in the "For Dummies" range first just to steep yourself in all the programming lingo, although you're probably familiar with it already.

I also like books in the "Sam's Teach Yourself" range. O'Reilly books are quite formal and don't feature too many screenshots.

No shortage of online tutorials either, as mentioned by another poster.

Creamy Goodness

Khannie wrote:

Do not buy this book when starting out. It is only useful as a reference (sorry cremo, but them's the facts). I bought this book because it's "the bible". Shockin' waste of money.

sorry i should of made myself clearer, i meant that it's a "bible" once you know what you are at. it ain't no "c for dummies"

Khannie

Cremo wrote:

sorry i should of made myself clearer, i meant that it's a "bible" once you know what you are at. it ain't no "c for dummies"

I bought it at the start of first year thinking...yeah...I'll read this and I'll be cool....sure it's only a small book....then about 5 words in I was like "WTF???".

Ethernet offers decent advice. I started out with HTML, and have suggested it to others as a starting point. It takes hours to learn. Minutes to make something pretty.

Javascript's not great if you intend learning multiple languages though IMO. Although it offers variables, conditional loops, etc. (which html does not), its syntax is pretty non-standard.

TerrorFirmer

Start with Visual basic. I only started learning this morning and already stringing a few basic programs together.

awhir

ok im just wondering what do you do in IT.

what does the corse involve.

google seems abit complexed.

Dooom

Ah I remember those days, looking through prospectus's (prospetci/ii?) going "Oh, and I'll do that and that" and so on. Trust me, don't worry about college at the moment, tis ages away yet. Concentrate on playing around with the various languages.
Look for a few tutorials (I've a bunch of bookmarks somewhere, I'll dig them out and throw them up tomorrow if you want), and run through them. Get a feel for what's what and if you even like it. I'd swore I was going to be a programmer, then I realised I hated programming.
Anyway, stop thinking about college for the time being. Stick to playing around and coding up little things like a (simple) calculator or whatnot else.

awhir

ok m8

was talking to my bro and he told me to give html a go first.i bought the html for dummies and the reference book of amazon there so hope to give html a go first.

Dooom

Bah, think I've lost my old bookmarks. That or I can't find them anyway, sorry bouts that.
Anywho, if you've a spare few minutes to look - here's a quick google on it.
Hope that gets you on the way anyway!

/edit: Completely forgot about the programming forum...you could pop in there and ask away too.

awhir

kk