programming noob

krankykitty

I'm thinking of learning some programming.. Id be interested to know what you think would be the best language to learn for a complete noobie...

cheers!

hussey

for the language side I'd say C/C++
you can get a nice info here, and give ya alink to free compilers (like borland command line compilier etc)

for 'to do stuff with' like click a simple box etc I'd say VB

leave java until after c, as classes can be confusing

jessy

Vb defiantly the choice for a newbie. Probably because it will let you get away with anything. But if you were serious about programming id learn a good language like C/C++ Java Delphi

krankykitty

thanks for the tips..
how did you all learn?
through classes? Or books alone?

hussey

go for books, no point paying for classes, unless you want a proper qualification

tommycahir

try turbo pascal that the way i learned it a very well structured language though prob hard to get hold of books to teach you bout it.. try vb very simple language to handle but doesnt teach you much bout pointers and functions etc but still can provide very usefull progs... c/c++ very good i learning it at the mo and teaches you alot bout prog but can get very complicated if you dont understand pointers

b3t4

If you can dicipline yourself enough to learn a language without going to classes then you can learn from a book.

I started with C++ in college. Learnt some(very little) C in my leaving cert from a book. Once you have a good grip on the basics everything else should fall into place. Also learn your first language well as it means you can transfer to newer languages easier than you may have done before.

Before you go off and buy yourself a big book about the language you choose, consider getting a version of the book in "Easy Steps". They are written for complete noobies and run you through the most basic things you need to setup before you can programme. They are also very resonably priced.

Thats my two cense anyways,
Rgrds,
A.

Evil Phil

Originally posted by hussey


for 'to do stuff with' like click a simple box etc I'd say VB

leave java until after c, as classes can be confusing

If you want to click a simple box learn HTML. If you want to learn classes then learn Java, Visual Basic or C#.

Personally I reckon you should start with C or another procedural programming language then go on to learn something like .NET or Java.

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Does anybody in here actually work with VB? Because it would seem not.

Talliesin

Originally posted by hussey
leave java until after c, as classes can be confusing

Learn Java or C++ before C. Otherwise classes can be confusing.

A lot of people who program in both C and an OO language like C++ have the features ordered in their mindset in the historical order they came into use.

However if classes are the very first thing you learn (and they should be, after a simple main function to make it all go) C++ and Java are much much simpler than C for almost all tasks.

VB is a good "something that really works fast language". Which is both a plus and a minus when deciding what is your first language to use. Unfortunately it is also often taught backwards (historical order over logical order). Any book on VB for beginners that doesn't explain how to create classes by the third chapter should be thrown away.

A zero-cost way to get started is to start writing javascript for web-pages. All you need is a text-editor and a web-browser to start experimenting with programming techniques.

krankykitty

thanks for the info everyone, gave me something to think about...

leeroybrown

start writing javascript for web-pages

Aside from JavaScript being evil

I learned in the following order:

FORTRAN (77)
C
Java
C++
PHP
Perl
VB
etc

I never thought that C was an ideal starting language even though a lot of colleges use it. Theres far too many "easy mistakes" there.

And also despite it being boring, it's a very good idea to learn how to use the language properly with a good programming style rather than just whacking together some poor kludge that barely works and is unintelligible at first glance.