Where and how do I start programming?

[(MoC)]

I have so many questions about this, and I really would like to learn how to program!

 

With which language do I start? Can I start with the language I would like to learn?

 

(I really would like to learn C, I have started learning Ruby...)

 

I do have the will power to do this and I would like to start early with this.

 

Thanks!

[~pcwiz]

Software

 

If you want to learn Visual C++, Visual C#, Visual Basic, SQL Server, Web Developing, get the Microsoft All In One Express DVD (scroll down to offline install). It contains all those free tools, express editions, they work great! If you want to learn Java (Visual J#) you can also download that. For Java developing, I recommend Eclipse or Netbeans. If you want easy object oriented programming, go for RealBASIC (commercial software, trial available). The last thing, if you want an easy way to make games go for Game Maker 6. And of course for Cocoa programming, Xcode Tools I realize that I am all over the place here but just to give you some ideas.

Tutorials

 

I am beginning programming myself, there are tons of tutorials on the net for C, RoR, whatever you want. For Cocoa, I suggest CocoaDevCentral, an excellent simple site with fantastic Cocoa tutorials. Bash and shell are the easiest to learn, but their use is limited.

 

I hope I've given you some stuff to think about

[kroked]

Go to college. Really, this is where you learn how to program.

[Headrush69]

Go to college. Really, this is where you learn how to program.

That's debatable.

 

I don't necessarily consider be able to write a program as the same as knowing how to program.

 

I'm constantly amazed at the number of people that consider themselves as seasoned programmers yet they lack knowledge of simple things such as pointers, variable scope, and heap/stack meaning/issues.

[iPirate]

Install the Developer Tools. Fire up Xcode. New Project -> Command-Line-Utility -> Standard Tool. (C program). Google some C tutorials. Begin.

 

Does that help?

[kroked]

No, its not debatable. You will get a far better education at school than you would in your momma's basement. Just because some people don't learn much at college is irrelevant; those same people would learn even less on their own.

If you are serious about learning how to program, going to school is by far the best choice. You will have access to professors who are trained to answer questions and guide you to a well rounded education (better than your dog at least), and you will network with other like-minded people who are serious about programming.

[Ongeloof]

i wrote a beep app last night and now make HUD mods

 

 

Think Mark

[hecker]

No, its not debatable. You will get a far better education at school than you would in your momma's basement. Just because some people don't learn much at college is irrelevant; those same people would learn even less on their own.

If you are serious about learning how to program, going to school is by far the best choice. You will have access to professors who are trained to answer questions and guide you to a well rounded education (better than your dog at least), and you will network with other like-minded people who are serious about programming.

I completely agree. Programming is something you can learn by doing but your results will not be the best. If you have the chance of learning from a professional, your apps will go from mediocre to great at the end.

[(MoC)]

I think I'm going to start as ~pcwiz said with some scripting. Then I'm going to go deeper into Ruby and finally learn C. I don't know, but I just like C for some reason

[sxjthefirst]

Get a good book or tutorial on programming and algorithms. You can use Java or C as your first language.

 

Shell is a good place to start but if you want to do complex stuff it actually can get tougher. Personally I wouldn't encourage the use of IDEs especially Visual Studio at this stage. Text editor and command line tools would show you what actually happens at each stage of the process.

[Suhail]

I really don't like the syntax of Objective C. I love C++

[Headrush69]

No, its not debatable.

Sure it is, everything is.

 

You will get a far better education at school than you would in your momma's basement. Just because some people don't learn much at college is irrelevant; those same people would learn even less on their own.

If you are serious about learning how to program, going to school is by far the best choice. You will have access to professors who are trained to answer questions and guide you to a well rounded education (better than your dog at least), and you will network with other like-minded people who are serious about programming.

You read too much into my comments. I never said learning at college was useless.

 

It's an assumption that just because it's a higher level education it's a good education. Between schools even between professors, the differences can be enormous.

(That was more my point, plus school isn't always an option for some people. (age, price, availability, etc))

 

The class I enjoyed the most: Foundations/Principles of Computer Languages

The goal of this course is to understand the fundamental concepts, constructs and implementations underlying almost all programming languages, the major paradigms of programming that use these concepts in different ways, and the formal description (syntax and semantics) of programming languages.

[~pcwiz]

MoC,

 

Go with bash/shell, and AppleScript. /me loves AppleScript, thanks to Headrush69 for helping out there

[(MoC)]

MoC,

 

Go with bash/shell, and AppleScript. /me loves AppleScript, thanks to Headrush69 for helping out there

 

That's what I'm thinking too. This is hard :\

[~pcwiz]

Bash/shell is just terminal lingo, but there is more you can do if you know the right commands. Bash and shell can be integrated into AppleScript with the do shell script () command. So learn AppleScript and bash, and you can create relatively good applications, thats how I created my kernel installer (With a little bit of Headrush magic )