Programming: where to start?

Post by **Stuart** » 14 Dec 2006, 15:51

There is this young guy in our church (he's in Grade 11 at the moment--that's Standard 9 for some of you!) who wants to get into programming when he gets out of school. Thing is, he's home schooled at the moment, so he has no opportunity to get involved in computer studies at school. He was in public high school for about a year or so, and did a bit of Delphi at the time, but that obviously fell away when he began home schooling.

Anyway, he wants to know where should he start if he wants to get into programming. He wants to do some self-study for a while until he can actually begin studying properly. Someone told him that Delphi is pretty much useless, and that the first thing he should do while he is still in school is become proficient with html. He can then do other stuff when he gets out.

Would you say that html is the way for him to go for self study until he's out of school? I know absolutely nothing about programming, but I told him I would find out from the PCF guys what they think. Also, when he can begin pursuing studies, what language would be best?

eraser · Post by **eraser** » 14 Dec 2006, 15:57

For self study i think its best to get a book on C++! Thats wat i did! It'll give him the basic programming knowledge that he needs! And its easy to learn.

As for language, I'd say the best is to try a bit of the main one's and decide which one he prefers.

Post by **Stuart** » 14 Dec 2006, 16:20

So is there no "general" language, or can you pretty much program whatever you want in whichever language you know? And what role does html play in programming?

rustypup · Post by **rustypup** » 14 Dec 2006, 16:29

first off, c/c++/java are all excellent springboards, (c for preference

)

c's learning curve is huge, c++/c# and java not so much... for instant gui, (Graphical User Interface), development, huge example database and a well rounded API, (including: encryption, regex, comprehensive IO, etc), java offers the best all-round introduction to the novice programmer...

once you've come to grips with one language, picking up another is fairly straightforward..

html serves zero purpose in programming... it's a scripting language...
<edit>

schase wrote:can you pretty much program whatever you want in whichever language you know?

just to clarify here... certain languages perform better in certain areas than others... assembler is brilliant at low-level IO and stacks, (which is why you'd typically find it being used on hardware interfaces), but not so much fun anywhere else... . c's IO, brute force and extensibility makes it a very versatile language, but it also makes for very fiddly GUI based applciations. c++/java are fairly balanced in the GUI side of things, where c++ is without a doubt the more powerful language, (when raw speed counts). when it comes to interoperability, GUIs, mobility and dependability, you'd be hard pressed to tackle java's dominance, for a whole number of technical reasons, (not least of which is the support and the community behind the language..)

application development is more of an art form than many would believe... it requires more inspiration, creativity and sense of adventure than cold, hard, calculating drudgery...
</edit>

CountZero · Post by **CountZero** » 14 Dec 2006, 16:33

I'm with eraser on this.
There are some free books on the net that's also usefull.

Give these a try: www.maththinking.com/boat/booksIndex.html

I think I got the link from jee.

eraser · Post by **eraser** » 14 Dec 2006, 16:42

HTML is used for web development, not really for programming!
As rusty said, its a scripting language!

Its easier to learn that programming, but not very functional! Unless you start using Javascript and PHP and such!

Post by **Ron2K** » 14 Dec 2006, 16:44

I've posted my opinions on this subject before.

Clicky

EDIT: This article on my website is worth reading too.

Post by **Kronos** » 14 Dec 2006, 16:53

Stick to everything that starts with "C" and doesn't end with "OBOL"

C, C++, and C#.

Java is slow and ugly.

Judas · Post by **Judas** » 14 Dec 2006, 16:58

Java is a good place to start learning; there's some great tutorials available, the language is well documented and the libraries you get with it cover pretty much everything you need.

Unfortunately there's no universal programming language, but as Rusty said, once you've learned one language you can pick up others fairly quickly.

I'd also suggest reading up on good design principles - I would highly recommend Code Complete 2, by Steve McConnell.

Post by **Kronos** » 14 Dec 2006, 17:03

I still say start with C and then C++.

If you can't code in one of those languages, you can't code, and then you're just gonna give the rest of us who can a huge headache trying to fix your messed up code.

Post by **Stuart** » 14 Dec 2006, 17:07

Kronos wrote:I still say start with C and then C++.

If you can't code in one of those languages, you can't code, and then you're just gonna give the rest of us who can a huge headache trying to fix your messed up code.

lol--that was actually a very useful comment. will advise him in this direction then.

SoulBlade · Post by **SoulBlade** » 14 Dec 2006, 17:35

I suggest VB to start with.
Its a nice learning ground with not much fuss. The moment you start getting to grips with the basic stuff head into the direction of Java/C++/Delphi.
VB is capable of OO but i dont suggest going there. rather use java or C++

IMHO Java is easier than C++, but C++ is much better in terms of resource usage and speed...

viceroy · Post by **viceroy** » 14 Dec 2006, 17:52

HTML isn't even a scripting language, its sole purpose is to format the text and images on the screen.

Scripting languages are perl, php, vbscript, javascript

So don't bother with HTML.

I'd start with VB since its easier to read and learn from examples than the likes of C (C++, C#).

Code: Select all

While c < 10 
  c = c + 1 
End While

is arguably easier to learn from than

Code: Select all

while (i < 10) 
  i++;

Once your friend is comfortable with the basics of programming (loops, conditions, etc) and has written a few basic programs, he could then move onto the more powerful languages like C etc.

But to be totally honest here, unless he was quite talented at Delphi when he did it and is passionate about programming and computers in general, he'll most likely just become a code monkey who hates his job than a true programmer who is passionate and loves what he's doing and is always looking at learning more about his craft.

Just my 2c. Use it, don't use it