I am new to programming and would like to learn how but dont know where to start... What should I learn first to help me later on with harder languages such as C++
Thanks,
ozi
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I am new to programming and would like to learn how but dont know where to start... What should I learn first to help me later on with harder languages such as C++
Thanks,
ozi
Myself, i started out with java, it is object orientated. I don't think it is really that hard to grasp, just get a good book and you should be fine.
I started out learning a little HTML then got into JavaScript. I liked programming but some concepts were hard to grab at first. Later on I began studying computer science and understood it better. But Visual Basic is by far the easiest tool / language to program with. And already knowing HTML, ASP was a breeze.
i dont see why u cant start on C++. Honestly, it isnt as hard of a language as people make it out to be. But, if you wanna learn basic programming and get the feel for it, id say VB is an excellent choice. There is plenty of stuff out there for you to start out on, and it is pretty simple. Once you get the basic concepts, move on to C++ (or maybe C# if your so inclined to do so ;) )
Or maybe C ;) C isn't really as out-of-date as people make it out to be, and it isn't hard, either. Nice intermediate step between VB and C++/C#.
People say that a little HTML is the best thing to star with, once you have the basics, then start programing. I started with QBasic, that was quite good, then this. But you may prefer a different language than me, or everyone would be doing the same - :rolleyes: - for example, i prefer VB than the little java i did/attempted, but someone i was talking to today hated VB and prefered java...
Dave
i started out with q basic but heres a warning dont start with c++ start with c first. once you finish c. then c++ will be a breeze
I started with C, clear all control structes in C, got the concepts of arrays, pointers, graphics, functions etc. from C and then moved to C++ and Visual Basic.
I started with VIC-20 BASIC, then QBasic, then VB, from version 3 to 6, and started HTML/JavaScript/Perl somewhere in there, and recently PHP. A bit of C/C++ and Java thrown in there. x86 ASM a couple years ago, most recently, TI-Basic and Z80 ASM for my TI-83+ graphing calculator.
In short, VB is good nowadays, I think.
WOW! You've really learnt alot of languages! :eek:Quote:
Originally posted by AndySoft
I started with VIC-20 BASIC, then QBasic, then VB, from version 3 to 6, and started HTML/JavaScript/Perl somewhere in there, and recently PHP. A bit of C/C++ and Java thrown in there. x86 ASM a couple years ago, most recently, TI-Basic and Z80 ASM for my TI-83+ graphing calculator.
I started with Psion OPL programming, then I moved on to mIRC scripting. After a few months on that, I tried Infinity modding, for like 2 weeks... then I finally tried QBasic... I did that for a week... Then I finally decided to just go with the flow and take VB6, so after 6 months of that... I'm thinking of learning C right now... but I'm not sure if I want to... I've wasted my youth on programming:eek: .
Sorry if that seemed like I was telling my life story, but I'm bored. :p
If you want to ride a bicycle, you'll first have to learn to walk.
I think, first of all, don't learn a language, but learn to analyze things as objects.
Nowadays, everything is a object in the most new high level languages (.NET, JAVA2, ...).
But also consider that flat programming is speedy, and OO not.
So for speedy programs (graphics, embedded, real-time, ...) program in C, Assembler or even DOS.
So, start comprehending programming techniques & algorithms, and then learn a basic language (JAVA2 is ok but VERY slow) prior to become an expert in C++.
DOS isn't a language...Quote:
program in C, Assembler or even DOS
If you want to learn C++ later, DON'T learn any Basic language (QBasic, Visual Basic) now. You can learn C if you want to, but I recommend that you start with C++ or Java. Java is easier than C++, but starting with C++ is still good: it's not as hard as people say, and once you know C++, every other language is a matter of a few hours to learn.
Perhaps I wanted to write "DOS-based languages", not?
The old BASIC languages implement a lot of "goto" & "gosub".
But it was also VERY simple to program something. It could be a good starting alternative, but, who wants to use it anyway?
I think, nowadays, VB6 is a good alternative for the beginner, not?
Why make it difficult if you can do it the easy way?
I can do anything I want with VB6, except port steering and fast gfx algorithms. But I don't think a beginner will program such kind of things.
There aren't any DOS-based languages except batch files either.
VB is easy to learn, allright. But I have seen too many VB->C++ converts here having huge problems because of the way they programmed in VB to recommend this language to anyone who later wants to learn C++.
OK, that's right.
I would suggest to start learning C++ if you really want to control everything, very hard for a beginner (because you'll have to know stuff about hardware, OS architecture, etc.).
Otherwise if you won't need these things in the future, just stick with VB6!
No, you don't. Or at least only very little. You can nearly completly avoid raw pointers in modern C++ by using such nice features as std::vector, std::string and std::auto_ptr.
Quit it you guys, youll scare the newbie away! ;)
;):D:p
I hope Ozi is still alive...
Nah, we talked him to death :D
He's probably washing cars by now...
Yall got too technical
I started with QBasic, and now I am on to VB. After learning Qbasic, it was quite easy to learn html and then some php. However, I don't recomend bothering with QB, as VB is basically QB easier and better. And the reason I took QB and VB is because they were the onyl 2 programming classes offered at my school, and I knew learning it at school was the only way I wouldn't get sidetracked (A.K.A. start playing games)
QBasic? When did you leave school?
Lol, still in it. I learned QBasic last year. At the time I signed up for the course I had no idea what a programming language even was.
I don't know of any school today offering QBasic courses.
Why not COBOL instead if it's only for learning a High level programming language?
I think I replied a bit late, owell who cares. I had time anyway :p
If the ultimate goal is C++, learn C afterwards otherwise you'll carry ALOT of bad bad programming techniques to C++, unless you're a very good at un-learning.Quote:
Originally posted by Osnr
Or maybe C ;) C isn't really as out-of-date as people make it out to be, and it isn't hard, either. Nice intermediate step between VB and C++/C#.
Who are these people and did they have a lobotomy?Quote:
Originally posted by Dunghill_Dave
People say that a little HTML is the best thing to star with, once you have the basics, then start programing.
No, very bad advice. Even the C++ creator suggests learning C++ instead of C if you want to just learn C++.Quote:
Originally posted by mrcc
i started out with q basic but heres a warning dont start with c++ start with c first. once you finish c. then c++ will be a breeze
Learning C before C++ is not a good move at all. It will teach you many many bad ways of doing things, and unless you're good enough that you can say "C is a different language form C++" and THEN learn C++ without carrying over C styles, you'll have a much harder time learning C++.
OO is still fast and 99% of all companies use C++ for graphics and real-time applications.Quote:
Originally posted by Mad Compie
But also consider that flat programming is speedy, and OO not.
So for speedy programs (graphics, embedded, real-time, ...) program in C, Assembler or even DOS.
C++ is still very fast compared to C
No! Don't scare away newbies to programming like that!Quote:
Originally posted by Mad Compie
I would suggest to start learning C++ if you really want to control everything, very hard for a beginner (because you'll have to know stuff about hardware, OS architecture, etc.).
If anything, I feel C++ is much easier than VB. C++ is a very easy language, the programmers just makes it hard on themselves.
One of my main arguments against learning C before C++ is that C is far harder than C++.
Many tutorials on C++ teach it a strange way. They use C-style strings, C-style arrays and all these things that make C so cryptic.
Sure, they still form the base of C++, but the C++ standard library offers so many cool features (like std::string) that hide this complexity that a newbie can avoid it. Learn C++ the easy way first, and learn later how the classes are implemented.
I have been programming embedded systems using assembler and C, so no C++!
C++ compilers exist for embedded applications but they are much slower in execution than if programmed in basic C.
Naturally, nowadays, people are programming in OO languages and this is really a nice approach. VB does it too. But QBasic not. and C also not.
It's up to you to choose what do you really want to program. Using UML schemes, most of the programming is already done!
I'd say it's mainly the compiler's fault. C++ is so complex (for the compiler) that it is hard to optimize. There's a large potential, and the difference between unoptimized and optimized C++ can be enormous.Quote:
C++ compilers exist for embedded applications but they are much slower in execution than if programmed in basic C.
E.g the program I just finished runs several times as fast in release mode as in debug mode.
:D
I see that courses are using QBasic so in the simplest way they can communicate the concepts of storing information in variables and arranging things to be done by a process of steps ending with output commands. BASIC was designed for this. But it still had the problem of why should there be "string" (huh!?) variables and numeric variables. I was a computer lab assistant back in the 1970s and I remember a student asking me, "Can you put numbers in string variables?" I said yes and he wrote this very logical but invalid code:
PRINT "HOW MANY HOURS DID YOU WORK?"
INPUT H$
PRINT "WHAT IS YOUR PAY RATE?"
INPUT R$
P$ = H$ * R$
PRINT "YOUR PAY IS "; P$
Don't laugh. He was right.
The problem is that no one writes an elementary course for BASIC starting with Visual Basic. Visual Basic books always assume you've been working in some other language for years and start with difficult fol-de-rol of defining a form. It's as bad as COBOL or RPG where to write the simplest procedure to learn or teach the simplest concepts you spend hours deciding what the input and output should look like.
It would be so easy to start with VB. For the first semester the students would simply be told that for reasons that don't concern them now, they will start with a blank form called Form1. They won't define any objects on the screen. For reasons that can't be explained, all the code will be inside something or other called
Private Sub Form_Load()
End Sub
Because Visual Basic has the variant data type the students might as well start with that and we'll get bogged down in details about what is the best data type and why LATER.
You can take all the examples right out of the QBasic books. All you have to do is replace the INPUT statements with InputBox and use Print to print on the form.
Soon will come a program that produces a report that is more output than can be put on the form. (About 30 lines). The first control to be defined will be the ListBox which is replacement for sheets of fanfold paper. That's all that would be needed.
for me i mastered html first, tried to do javascript, but i didnt get i at first, i did a lot of qbasic then finally moved to vb, for it was the easiest transition, sice most of the code can be used the same.
Whats the Best Language to begin with?
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I am new to programming and would like to learn how but dont know where to start... What should I learn first to help me later on with harder languages such as C++
Thanks,
ozi
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for a novice is BASIC
for a professional is C/C++/JAVA
AND
FOR a philocrazy is THE ONE THE BEST -->PASCAL
my personal opinion!!
I started HTML then I moved on to VB
HTML is not a language...:)
What is it considered then? Doesn't the L stand for Language? :DQuote:
Originally Posted by NoteMe
It's not a programming language. And since the original request is this:
Markup languages such as HTML just don't fit the bill.Quote:
I am new to programming and would like to learn how but dont know where to start...
Quote:
Originally Posted by manavo11
Don't get smart with me....you know you always lose...:)
[Edit] Ohhh and CB should be in bed now too...
I know, I know... You're right :)Quote:
Originally Posted by NoteMe
Are we all staying up late CB? :)
What is the characteristic of Markup Languages? Using tags? :ehh:
Definition: a set of symbols and rules for their use when doing a markup of a document :)
Thanks :)Quote:
Originally Posted by NoteMe
Staying up late ... standing up early ...
HTML is just a tool. Design is an art. Coding someone else's design using a tool is just a means to an end. Any language that lets you program a computer to do a task is worth learning. Learning HTML is something that can be done with automated tools, and usually better than you can.
I started with COBOL on a mainframe, but before we could take any courses in COBOL, we had to take 2 semesters of BAL (Basic Assembler Language), just so we could get a taste of the power of a higher level language.
JoelOnSoftware is still advocating that everyone learn C instead of C++. I just read his advice to college students this week.
As long as .Net is so cheap, why not start with that? It is a mixture of a few different things (or so I'm told) so once you get a handle on it, then you will have an edge on anything else you want to learn.
I could now get into a loooong argument about HTML and its purpose - but it would be off-topic.
I advocate C++ before C. It's far more beginner-friendly.
I had a real problem with C++. I like to grasp something inside out when I learn for the first time. After doing a lot of structured programming, I got to object orientated and got lost. I still managed to pass the classes (2 were required) but by the end of the second one, I had gotten the hang of it. I took a third class and got A's. The other classes really killed my GPA. Worst grades I ever got in a Computer class.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CornedBee
I am not sure, but if I would have restarted now I think I would have started with C# before C++. But not 100% sure though. But I think so. C# and then Managed DX....:cool:
Stop - stop - stop - this thread is like over 2 years old...
It was painful to read as it is...
Let me get this straight, although HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup language, it is NOT a language. It is just a 'format'.Quote:
Originally Posted by CLibra
Language has certain characteristics, decision making, flowstrutures and etc.
QuickBASIC is a good place to start off programming. Because it is very easy. After you learn decision makings and flowstructures and subrountines, u can move on to Visual Basic to make Windows applications.
You can stick with Visual Basic for sometime until you get some experience.
Later you can migrate to C++ or Java with great experience. You will then start exploiting OOP techniques.
Anyone ever here of the program "Authority"?
Man, lol, that was an easy program. Not sure if it had its own language or if it ran off an existing language.
But, I started with Vic20, then Qbasic, then C++, then VB.
Seemed to work ok, if I had time to do more than just web programming.
it is the format that browsers understand to display webpages. you have to know the format in order to display pages. Office will automatically make any document into html. Does that mean that it is a programming applications (AI) ? I don't think so...