kuliand Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Im doing a computer science foundation degree this year (proper degree starts next year) and i want to learn to to program in my own time as we haven't covered much in lectures but im finding it hard to get my head round the basics concepts of programming. Anyway one of my class mates has done a computer science course before and said they spent about half a term just learning the methods used and basic techniques used to solve problems i think this is what i need as i have never done any programming before and we just jumped straight into VB in lectures so can anyone recommend a website or something that starts with the very basic's? a podcast would be ideal as i learn better when listening or watching. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Headrush69 Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 http://www.programmingtutorials.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chest12 Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 When i started when i was 10/11 i learnt Java. Java is a really good language to learn for a beginner as you can create programs that are cross platform, and with a Graphical User Interface. The way i learnt when i was 10/11 was my brother gave me his books that he used in first year computer science. Here are some recommendations 'Introduction to Java Programming' by Y Daniel Liang and 'Head First Java' by Kathy Sierra & Bert Bates. Head first java has a lot more diagrams explaining the programs that you right while Introduction to Java Programming has a lot more reading and fewer diagrams. If you need know any more information let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfalkar Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 Don't listen to him, java sucks and gives you a skewed look at every other programming language, and may make it harder to learn other languages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chest12 Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 What languages do you know?? Java is a great language not as good as C but is a great beginner language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suhail Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 Java is a excellent language but I reckon C is better mainly becuase of its speed and nativeness. Also did I mention it is easy to learn with the .Net framework. I know PHP, JS myself and I find C# and C++ to be real easy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(MoC) Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Ruby, Then Java! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfalkar Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Well perhaps instead of just saying java sucks and not recommending anything better, I should have said that C is the best language to start with. It's the base for Objective C, which is the native programming language for OS X. Chest12, I know C, C++, Objective-C, BASIC (which fails), and some assembly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahbau Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 Well perhaps instead of just saying java sucks and not recommending anything better, I should have said that C is the best language to start with. It's the base for Objective C, which is the native programming language for OS X. Chest12, I know C, C++, Objective-C, BASIC (which fails), and some assembly. If you don't know Java, how can you claim to know that it will skew one's perspective on programming? Java is nearly identical to C++ in its syntax. Heck, Java and C++ are both modeled on C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfalkar Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 well java sucked so hard I stopped learning it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainLando Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 As someone who began programming 2.5 years ago and now leading high school outreach to help students with computing (and college) questions, I believe I can provide some insight. Instead of giving you blanket answers such as Java or C++, I'd like to know: what are your current hobbies and interests for the future? The reason I ask this is because, when one views computing as whole, one sees that it is an extremely interdisciplinary field. So any interest you have, whether it be skateboarding or drawing or medicine or astronomy or dinosaurs, please share it ;-) From there we all can make better suggestions. Every one learns differently, and being able to tie learning into a current interest is empowering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbz Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 As someone who began programming 2.5 years ago and now leading high school outreach to help students with computing (and college) questions, I believe I can provide some insight. Instead of giving you blanket answers such as Java or C++, I'd like to know: what are your current hobbies and interests for the future? The reason I ask this is because, when one views computing as whole, one sees that it is an extremely interdisciplinary field. So any interest you have, whether it be skateboarding or drawing or medicine or astronomy or dinosaurs, please share it ;-) From there we all can make better suggestions. Every one learns differently, and being able to tie learning into a current interest is empowering. That's a very smart post right there! Although, I think most of us would agree that C++ is a very good language to learn if you are serious about learning to program. The reason is because so many languages are based off it that it really expands your knowledge. I would also root for Java, as others have said, because it is cross-platform and easily GUI capable, but if you can understand C++, Java should seem easy. I'm currently learning C++ with a GREAT book (available free online at the author's site) called Thinking in C++. If you first want to learn the essentials of C (a very, very good idea if you're having trouble already), there is also a nice online course called Thinking in C. Start with that, regardless of wether you want to move on to C++ or Java. You can find the book at http://mindview.net/Books/books.htmlhttp://mindview.net/Books/books.html and the seminar/course at http://www.mindview.net/CDs. Good luck and have fun while learning: take it one step at a time and at your own pace, but set a specific time for yourself just for learning to program or you risk giving up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macprogrammer Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 I think that Java is a very good language for the beginner. You can also use the Netbeans IDE's GUI Builder, which is very easy to use and fun. The apps are also cross-platform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts