Author Topic: I want to be a programmer (Read 2913 times)

Fox MiCloud · « **on:** April 02, 2007, 01:20:43 pm »

I am really good with computers and can fix anything that I have faced, but I want to be a programmer, and don't really know what to do. Any programs, suggestions, or ideas would be very helpful.

(I would give my e-mail, but I am still too nervous to do that.)

Fox MiCloud,

"I will take the sky anyday"

"Do your best, and when you think you have done your best, push harder."

"Never give up!"

paintedwildcat · « **Reply #1 on:** April 02, 2007, 02:09:15 pm »

Uhm.. start programming things?

No, seriously - the best way to learn how to program is by doing it.

Think of a simple project you'd like to do - it doesn't matter if it's already been done, or even if it's actually useful - the point is for you to gain skill by building it.

Pick one of the programming languages you can get a compiler for free in - Perl might be a good option; it's fairly easy to pick up, but it's good, especially when dealing with strings.

Other options are things like Ruby, which I haven't learned myself, but I've heard a lot of good things about. Look around and see what languages interest you..

Break up your project into small, concrete steps that you can do and then test - if you need to read something from a file, alter it, and then print it out, say, first write code that will print a hard-coded phrase; test it. Then write code that will read a file and print it directly out; test it. Then write the bit that does the alteration.

Testing all the time may seem like a pain, but it's much better than running your 600-line program for the first time, having it fail, and then having no idea where to even begin looking for the problem...

Once you've started learning, asking for help about specific things is helpful - try things until you get stuck, then get help, then go even further before getting stuck again!

Good luck!

Fox MiCloud · « **Reply #2 on:** April 06, 2007, 02:43:24 pm »

Thanks for the help. I will check the languages. I just don't know exactly what would be best for starting out. I have heard that Games are one of the easiest to do, but it looks like it requires a game engine to make one. I am just spinning in circles at the moment, any more help will also be appreciated.

kirbs · « **Reply #3 on:** April 28, 2007, 01:37:42 am »

try Gamemaker for some beginner-style object based programming (use gamemaker 6.1). if you have flash try doing a bit of action script.

The best program for becoming fluent in is C or its variants. Knowing C gives you a pretty good understanding of coding structure and appearance.

Gamemaker is free for a beginner's edition but the cost for a full version is roughly $35 US It's capabilities are extremely limited though when compared to flash or C, so if you decide to use it, don't get stuck down by it.

466314 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 28, 2007, 08:07:35 am »

AttorneyAtLawl · « **Reply #5 on:** April 29, 2007, 03:36:23 am »

Uh... go to college? Buy a book? Google? I'm confused a bit. Are you trying to learn how to program professionally as a career, or just start now and do little spare-time projects?

Vulpyro · « **Reply #6 on:** April 29, 2007, 11:20:30 am »

Start with C++

weese · « **Reply #7 on:** October 25, 2007, 10:25:54 pm »

Quote (Vulpyro @ April 29 2007, 11:20 am)

Start with C++

Thats what I did, and I had SO much fun with it.

« **Reply #8 on:** October 26, 2007, 09:51:25 am »

A bit late, I know, but if you download Linux (for example Debian) there are a LOT of free programming tools you can download right from the package manager. If you're doing server-side code like PHP or whatever there are free servers, too (Apache is an industry standard).

WhiteShepherd · « **Reply #9 on:** October 26, 2007, 11:48:55 am »

It depends on what you want to do. If you want to start out with simple programs that run on windows Pascal is also a good option. You can get a free compiler at www.freepascal.org . It's feature rich and is what I've used to write Furtopia's CGI scripts.

WhiteShepherd

Lascivus_Lutra · « **Reply #10 on:** October 26, 2007, 12:45:41 pm »

Building on WhiteShepherd's suggestion, you can get some basic understanding of Pascal here, www.taoyue.com/tutorials/pascal/

Acton · « **Reply #11 on:** October 26, 2007, 05:01:41 pm »

Here is another way to go. Go to Visual Express Web Page and download Microsoft Visual express 2005 or the 2008 betas. You can pick you poison Visual Basic, C++, C# or Java. these are full blown IDE. I used C# to create my own RSS podcast downloader.