Programming

[TelMeDragon]

I would like to learn programming but I don't know which language to start with? Is there an easy one I can start with then switch to a different one and gradually build up my skills? Any s***estions will be appreciated =)

[pal]

Well for a starter you haven't indicated whether you meant web programming or application programming

Starter languages:
Visual Basic (Application)
Pascal (Application)
HTML (Web)

Intermediate languages:
Perl (Web & Application)
PHP (Web & Application)
C# (Application)
Delphi (Application)
ASP (Web)
Ruby (Application)

Advanced languages:
C (Application mainly)
C++ (Application mainly)
Java (Application)
ASM (Application)
Machine Code (Application)
Python (Web & Application)

I s***est you spend a year learning VB, and learn some Pascal, then learn Perl or Delphi, finially finishing off with C++ or ASM (Very hard). I dont s***est learning machine code as that is extremly hard

[Ezekiel]

I would like to learn programming but I don't know which language to start with? Is there an easy one I can start with then switch to a different one and gradually build up my skills? Any s***estions will be appreciated =)

Learning XHTML, css and javascript is always a good starting point. The javascript will teach you the most about programming; XHTML/HTML and CSS are purely formatting languages for browsers and feature no real programming concepts.


Well for a starter you haven't indicated whether you meant web programming or application programming

Starter languages:
Visual Basic (Application)
Pascal (Application)
HTML (Web)

Intermediate languages:
Perl (Web & Application)
PHP (Web & Application)
C# (Application)
Delphi (Application)
ASP (Web)
Ruby (Application)

Advanced languages:
C (Application mainly)
C++ (Application mainly)
Java (Application)
ASM (Application)
Machine Code (Application)
Python (Web & Application)


That's a pretty definitive list you got there, apart from machine code - nobody types pure machine code into a hex editor. All low level programming is done in assembly.


I s***est you spend a year learning VB, and learn some Pascal, then learn Perl or Delphi, finially finishing off with C++ or ASM (Very hard). I dont s***est learning machine code as that is extremly hard

While VB may be good as an easy starter language, it teaches some quite bad programming habits. For some people it may be harder to switch to C/C++ after VB experience than with no experience, but it's up to personal preference.

But yeah as he said, pick yourself an easy language to begin with to prepare you for learning the core languages of modern programming - C or C++. The browser scripting and server scripting languages are good places for experience.

[pal]

yeah i suppose, i heard someone managed to code machine code. aww' well i dont know really.

the only program with javascript is that it is a scripting language, its the closest scripting language you can get to programming though.

VB does teach bad habbits, and is not like most open source programming languages. for example in most open based languages the syntax is generally alike

Perl:


print "Hello";


PHP


echo "Hello";


C# (console)


Console.writeline("Hello");


C++ (console)


cout << "Hello" << endl;


Ok, you get the point, then we look at VB, the closest we can get to displaying a little bit of text or making your first application would be



msgbox "Hello"


Which is nothing like most other languages.

Your best option is trying to learn a fairly new language for example C#. that is fairly new, Microsoft programming i dont like particually apart from Visual Basic.

Why are these languages alike? Simple. Lets take PHP for example. We trace it back and you will find that in ***5 PHP/F* was made. What language was this made from? Perl. Then we trace Perl back. This was made from more than one language: C (K&R), sh and sed. Sed and sh were made from binary, so another language didn't make them. C (K&R) when it first was made was just called CPL, but it changed every time. Algo*60 made this. In the end lots of languages trace back to Florian which died out after its 200* release.

[TelMeDragon]

Ok I think im gonna try pascal first (btw sorry for not mentioning which kind i want but i want application), but first of all what is a compiler and is downloadable (omg i must sound very nubby -_-)

[pal]

a compiler is a program which converts your source code (programming) into an executable program. The best pascal compiler is: http://www.freepascal.org/ this will install all needed files. http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-885*-*&q=pascal+tutorials&btnG=Search&meta= for tutorials. I s***est after you are done with pascal you move onto delphi because their syntax is quite simular

[TelMeDragon]

ok thanks for everything!:D

[TelMeDragon]

Sorry for the double post but then i need a little more help, i found a pascal tutorial but it is confusing, does anyone know a good tutorial that any noob can understand?

[Ezekiel]

Sorry for the double post but then i need a little more help, i found a pascal tutorial but it is confusing, does anyone know a good tutorial that any noob can understand?

Pascal isn't exactly the most popular languages, so I s***est that you try something with a bigger userbase and tutorials.

Python is generally the language most people learn to prepare themselves for learning other software based languages. I say learn Python to prepare yourself for learning C or C++ later on, and learn XHTML, CSS and JavaScript to gain an understanding of browser scripting. Which you choose to do first (software OR browser scripting) is your own decision.

I don't know why pal put python under the 'advanced' heading, but python is the total opposite. It is an intermediate/beginner language - very simple but powerful enough to make some interesting scripts.

Download it here:

http://www.python.org/

Read about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_programming_language

Learn it here:

http://docs.python.org/tut/
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Non-Programmer's_Tutorial_for_Python/Contents/
http://www.python.org/doc/Intros.html

[TelMeDragon]

ok thanks for all the advice =D