Introduce me to programming :(

[tkpenalty]

Hey guys this is the first post in this section :D, so yeah, can you guys introduce me into programming? I totally don't know ANYTHING about it :banghead:

[Garb3]

i was goin to put my university programming notes on here but i cant seem to log on to my uni site so it will have to wait:(

[Mediocre]

Go read a wiki....

start by trying to understand Assembly...lol

But seriously, what language do you want to program in? C++? HTML? Visual Basic?

[xylomn]

omg assembly got to be the most annoying thing ever :banghead:

I was so glad when we finished learning it lol

If you choose to learn either java, haskell, vdm++ i'll put up my university notes for ya :)

[Kreij]

If you are using XP SP2 (with .Net 2.0 Frameowork) you can download any of the Express edition programming tools (VB, C#, C++ WebDev, etc.) from the Microsoft Developers Network web site (msdn.com).

There are also lots of tutorials for getting started.

You can aslo check out a section they have there called coding4fun.

[Dippyskoodlez]

Start with visual basic.

Theres a free express version, and if you're serious, theres a book called "visual basic .net step by step"

It'll run about $50 but covers ANY and EVERYTHING in visual studio 2003 used by visual basic.

Its a book full of win. Once you get VB down, maybe move up to c#, kind of a mix between c++ and VB, and then into c++ and more extensive languages.

ALSO, HTML is an excellent starting spot, as its mind bogglingly simple, yet complex at the same time, and can be done with notepad and firefox/IE! no tools necessary!

[Ripper3]

If you can still find it, start with VB6, it's close enough to the newer VB.NET languages, yet is stupidly simple. There are hundreds of guides, and it would that you could then read my computing project of doom and understand it (Computing project of doom is my project for my A2 computing class that has just finished. Stupidly simple underpinnings, but it's a three-tier design. I'm proud of myself).
Also, it's great stepping stone to other more complex languages, and is alot of people's old favourite.

[aximbigfan]

i started out learning java...

however, i would recommend that you learn javascript first, it will tech you the basics.


chris

[Ripper3]

Speaking of java and javascript, and also going back to HTML as mentioned earlier, great place to test your skills (after you practice a bit I'd guess):
HackerGames (www.hackergames.net)
HackIts (www.hackits.de)
HackQuest (www.hackquest.de)
Hackr (www.hackr.org)

Some of the later challenges on them are more than a little tough, but the first ones should be easy enough, and could help get you acquainted with some minimal HTML and javascript skills.

[Atech]

i started out learning java...

however, i would recommend that you learn javascript first, it will tech you the basics.


chris
Hm, but make sure it's standard ECMAScript ... JScript does some really funny things.

[MrSeanKon]

Start with visual basic.I recommend C# instead of Visual Basic.
Visual C++ (all included in Visual Studio) is more powerfull but difficult.

[Dippyskoodlez]

I recommend C# instead of Visual Basic.
Visual C++ (all included in Visual Studio) is more powerfull but difficult.

I like VB because the syntaxes are trivial. :)

C# is like a mix of them.

[xylomn]

like aximbigfan I started learning java... i like how the virtual machine handles disposing of object in memory when they are no longer needed automatically lol

[Ketxxx]

Well before we go jumping in recommending this that and the other, we need to establish one thing, what would you like to accomplish with programming?

[Pinchy]

Well before we go jumping in recommending this that and the other, we need to establish one thing, what would you like to accomplish with programming?

Exactly. You need to choose a specific programming paradigm for what he wants to achieve, then choose the language ;)

[Kreij]

What he really needs to do is to perform disambiguous cross-analysis on his time/workoad metrics versus his interest/motivation acheivement goals to see if he really gives a rat's patooty about which language he uses. ;)

I would recommend picking any language, write a program that prints "Hello World" to the screen, and if he does not get a warm, fuzzy feeling to ditch the whole programming idea.

[Namslas90]

I would suggest something in Basic thats windows supported;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_BASIC_dialects_by_platform#Microsoft_Windo ws

:toast:

[AsphyxiA]

Well before we go jumping in recommending this that and the other, we need to establish one thing, what would you like to accomplish with programming?
you do need to figure out what you want to do, once you do, find the language that best suits it. If you want to just jump in and start learning, try out HTML, beginners stuff really easy. If you want a little more of a challenge, try out python, you can get a free compiler from python.org or something. Its a real and versitile language and really easy to get into. plus if you want to move on to C or C++ its a good gateway language.

[Oliver_FF]

Visual Basic, whilst having a poor poor reputation amongst serious programmers, is always a good starting point for understanding the basic concepts, it's just soooo simple and the debugger is just so darn friendly and easy to use.