Programming

[Keitan]

Im learning atm to program so what programes i need to get first?

 

[Dukat]

What language are you learning?

 

[Keitan]

im dling visual basic at the moment

 

[Chronictank]

visual basic for dummies is a good book

 

[liloe]

What about you start leaning Java and get: Java is an island? =) or Java in the nutshell.

I think it's a more modern language and still not that hard to learn =)

 

[Lamp]

Visual C#.NET is a very useful application programming language

I recommend "Visual C#.NET Step by Step v 2003" - Microsoft Press.

 

[Serbitar]

qbasic 4tw xD

 

[Mojo]

A beginers guide to Pascal!

 

[Darzil]

I reckon VB isn't a bad place to start.

Get a decent book, and learn to do it right, rather than just so it works.
Keep working on expanding your understanding of it.
VB 2005 Express (downloadable from Microsoft) has lots of handy .Net 2.0 stuff for making automating PC stuff easy.

There are better more elegant languages out there, but VB covers the basics, and there are always VB jobs around. Once you learn one language well, other similar languages are easy (I learnt Basic, then C, then Java, C++, VB. On the basis of that I have also debugged Modula 2 and Pascal, cos they are all similar languages).

Darzil

 

[Nullifidian]

C & C ++ are really good to know.

I recommend dling a distro of linux if you're serious. SuSE, Fedora & Ubuntu are good for beginners.

 

[uron]

jus started an A level course in computing, which is mainly based on prgramming. we have jus started in Pascal, its very easy and i picked it up in a lesson tbh, its far frm anything fancy though mostly just simple text atm. but if u have no idea and want to strt sumwhere tht would b a nice easy start.

 

[Turran]

For c# - http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualcsharp/learning/default.aspx

For the basics, not a hard language to learn

 

[Lamp]

I found the hardest part with C#.NET was the nature of Object Oriented Programming itself, getting my head around what methods, objects, classes, and so on were.

 

[Rub]

For c# - http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualcsharp/learning/default.aspx

For the basics, not a hard language to learn

was gonna advice the same xD
learning C# atm too and that has been a great help for me

 

[Gamah]

I have just started Learning ASP, and I am leaning VB through that, after I am planing to Learn ASP.NET PHP and then move on the stuff like C#

 

[Sharma]

The general consensus I got was that C# was shite and C++ still owns it.

 

[Iphis]

C++ is where its at

I too started with VB, its a very good language to get your head around programming, just means when moving to a new language you simply learn a new syntax.

 

[scarloc]

Lots of companies like C++ and sometimes java. Perl is simple to pick up and very very powerful.

 

[Jeremiah]

TBH Java>Everything else

 

[Lamp]

TBH Java>Everything else

*COUGH* lol

It depends what you're programming. You use the most appropriate language for the job in hand. We use - eg - C# for certain applications in our front office trading system. Our bank uses thousands of applications and we host thousands of web pages with multiple-level complexity apelets.

Saying Java > everything is like saying using a screwdriver is the best tool

 

[Boni]

Im learning atm to program so what programes i need to get first?

You need a C++ compiler, and a text editor, maybe a debugger as well. I would get microsoft visual studio as its all in one and the most commonly used package, theres a trail version you can download somewhere.

Otherwise pick your own text editor (hell you could use windows notepad, im sure a lot of us have used worse) And look for an open source C++ compiler on the internet.

Once your happy with that and have built a few programs you could go install the directx SDK and the windows API SDK and thats all you really need to write a game on the PC.

If your looking for a book all you need is Bjarne Stroustrups C++ book he designed the language after all.

 

[Boni]

TBH Java>Everything else

prolog so pwns java.

 

[DocWolfe]

Some of Vista is actually programmed in c# so it can't be that shit. C# will never be as fast C++ because C# is maily translated into machine code at runtime (like java) unlike c++ which is translated into machine code at compile time.

This translation process at runtime is going to cause a slight delay during the working of the program but nothing significant, especially considering the speed processors can perform operations at these days and in the future, it doesn't really matter that much.

The advantages of compiling at runtime are that you dont need two different distributions for each operating system you want to run the program on. You can run the same program on Linux or Windows, without having to recompile the code.

The thing I hate about VB and Visual * .NET is the way they try and spoon feed you with the UI's for creating windows forms and shit. I'd to prefer to be hands on and program all that your self with the actionlisteners and such like, so you know exactly what is going on in your code, this gives you a much more broader idea of what exactly is going on in your program.

Also the C# API is fucking dire, look at the Java API and theres some serious information there that is actually useful and easy to get around. The C# MSDN library crap is terrible, with its shitty DHTML tree menus, makes it take forever to load. C# is a pretty good language, but the API is dire, Java is also a pretty good language but has a much better API The problem with Java is that is needs the JVM and doesn't have the ability to make windows executables and you have to use .jar files

C++ is a confusing bag of shite too, with its header files, and the Windows APIs are bunch of hodgepodge crap with different primitives.

The thing to remember with Object Oriented Programming is that each class should represent a real world object- or whatever you're trying to model. e.g.
I can remember making a till for a bar in a first year project.

So you would have a Balance class, that represents the current balance in the till, and you could add to that subtract from that. Maybe it stores a list of items put through the till.

A Item parent class or interface that represents the items that are being put through the till. This could be split into two types-> drinks and food. An item would have some values. price, name, item id. etc.

Then maybe you would have an Input class that takes any input (text, a button press) and converts that into an Item object.

and so on bit long winded but I hope it helps people

 

[Jeremiah]

*COUGH* lol

It depends what you're programming. You use the most appropriate language for the job in hand. We use - eg - C# for certain applications in our front office trading system. Our bank uses thousands of applications and we host thousands of web pages with multiple-level complexity apelets.

Saying Java > everything is like saying using a screwdriver is the best tool

Hehe, I agree with you - I just felt like stirring things up I suffered from a uni education where we were only taught object orientated programming, so I'd be at a loss to talk about C++ I thought C# was Microsofts version of a OO programming language, is that right?

 

[Kaun_IA]

for VB , c#, c++ and asp ... visual studio works for me

for php i use notepad ++

for java i use Eclipse


personally i dont know much about VB so.... mybe visual studio aint the best for that

 

[Kaun_IA]

TBH Java>Everything else

not really

 

[Keitan]

i wanna program daoc servers and dbs and scripts

 

[Chronictank]

perl might be your best option for databases as its designed for text parsing
perl and sql go very well together

but as people here say C++ is also a very good for general purpose programming, personally prefered c++ to c# because thats what i learnt and i dont see the need to migrate.
HOWEVER seeing as you are a blank plate i seriously suggest you try c# instead as it integrates lessons learned from c++, java, delphi and other languages.
But remember c++ has been around a long time, there is a very big knowledgebase behind it and you will be pretty far stretched fo rind a module you need that someone else hasnt already writted ready to be integrated into your code
C# however is new so there isnt as much support, there arent as many modules etc etc, but there will be

Dont waste your time with Java unless you plan on doing web based stuff (even then i would do it in C#), the above languages are more powerful and have greater usefulness when it comes to databases

 

[Keitan]

got book for java+c++ atm

 

[Jeremiah]

Dont waste your time with Java unless you plan on doing web based stuff (even then i would do it in C#), the above languages are more powerful and have greater usefulness when it comes to databases

I am shocked In what way are they more powerful?