Computer Programing?

Question

I want to learn basic computer programing.heard the C language is a good one to start with.Anyone have any idea on how to learn it.sites,books.

Answer 1

Im not a computer programmer myself, however I am a WEBSITE programmer.



I see many people each month that think that they are good at a website programming language, but dont know the full spectrum which allows tham to code anything that they desire. They will use website tutorials and learn it in bits.



I recommend that if you are going to learn any kind of programming language, that you get a good book and read it from cover to cover. This will mean that you will learn everything that there is to know and you have a reference to look back at.



Good Luck :)

Answer 2

I guess it all has to do with what your hopes and dreams are with your new venture. Do you want to write a million dollar web page? Are you hoping to develop an accounting system that will revolutionize the industry? Do you want to make robots walk and talk? Maybe you want to give Nintendo a run for their money. Perhaps like me about 15 years ago you just want to find a better job that might have some kind of promising future. I started with boring old database programming using Forpro version 2.0 for DOS (long since dead). While I cringe at the memories of all the coding I value the foundation. Today in my shop we use Microsoft SQL Server as our database and Dreamweaver 8 for everything else. With Dreamweaver we are able to do all sorts of things with many languages and it suits us just fine. Our model is asp/VBscript and with that we build database applications both in-house and publish to the web. I recommend Dreamweaver for even the beginner. It will help you learn and introduce you to some syntax that might be difficult to otherwise just pick up. It also provides more advanced developers a lot of freedom to go nuts. But I go back to what I said in the beginning. You should probably take inventory of where you want your programming to take you. Good luck. If I had it to do all over again though I’d have become a cardiologist. The money is better.

Answer 3

I am an old school programmer but have been doing web-only for the past 7 years.



If you want to learn how to program, find a book called The C Programming Language, by Kernigan and Ritchie. It is designed assuming you have never programmed a line in your life.



Finish that book and you will know more about programming than 85% of the programmers I have met over the past 15 years. It will teach you solid fundamentals that you will carry with you for the rest of your life, regardless of what language you end up picking up after C.



*If* you were to want to learn web programming, then I would suggest something like ASP.net for dummies. I made my transition to web with the original ASP for dummies book.



Also, if you were to learn web programming in asp.net or php, then you have hundreds of websites with outstanding help. If you know programming fundamentals and you know how to google you can teach yourself the basics of web programming in very little time.



Tools: Microsoft will give you a reasonable and usable version of their development suite for free and with no catch. If you have a Mac, it will come with a full blast set of development tools called Xcode. If you are in Linux there are plenty of very useful tools along the same lines. This means you won't have to spend a penny on tools while you are learning.



Books: Steer away from Microsoft Press books and books from WROX Press (bright red covers, 2-3 inches thick at the very least). These books are of no use to you if you are learning, they are only good if you are a seasoned geek that knows how to look up information quickly. I have bought about a dozen WROX press books and only one was worth it: WROX Professional ASP 3.0, which is now obsolete. The others were crap. Every single MS press book I bought was crap.



O'Reilly makes great geek books. Try to spot on the differences between the "nutshell" and "mastering" series in O'Reillys because you may end up buying a reference book instead of a teaching book.

Answer 4

I think that new programmers should learn a language that they choose to learn, if they are doing it informally. And they should realize that they have to learn to *PROGRAM*, not program in XYZ language, the hottest new thang from Microland. Learning to program means learning how to find and implement algorithms, compound data types, what language(s) to use for what purpose in which environment and much more. It is not an insurmountable task, just an ongoing one. The URL below has a good assortment of free compilers, tutorials, editors and other tools for download. They cover the entire spectrum from HTML and CSS to x86 Intel assembly language. So, here is the URL, go and find out what you'd like to do and do some of it. Good luck!

Answer 5

Microsoft are giving away their Visual Studio Express Edition free. It gives you Visual Basic, C#, C++ and J#. Get a copy and try them out for yourself. If you want to lean C start with C#. Many books on Visual C# programming come with a copy of the language.



A language that will give you a good grounding in programming, is easy to learn and will remain useful beyond the beginners' level is Borland Delphi, a modern version of Pascal.

Answer 6

Would definitely agree with king23, (visual basic) is a good language to learn programming concepts, i.e. how think in terms of programs without getting too bogged down in the syntax etc....

Answer 7

C is an excellent language.



You might also consider C++. It is a super-set of C but is geared towards a style known as Object Oriented Programming ("OOP"). I would stay away from C#. IMHO it is just another obvious attempt by Microsoft to hijack the entire industry by taking over the dominant language.



There are plenty of good books on the subject. Just hit your local bookstore and you should find several.

Answer 8

hey mate, i think visual basics is good for you if you know you are jus about to teach yourself/learn programing. it is a special language for beginers and after that you can then jump to c++ otherwise c++ will be hard for you to start with. c++ is a very good language but hard to learn. i do programing and i'm still learning.

Answer 9

If you can master C, then you'll be able to handle most other languages. C Primer Plus by Stephen Prata is a good book. I suggest taking a class at the university, though. That would be more beneficial.

Answer 10

Try starting off with something a bit easier than C, I don't know if its still around but (excluding BASIC on my spectrum) I first started learning what I know in pascal, it can't do too much but its a good place to start and pretty simple compared to C++ etc.

Answer 11

STOP!



Ok you need to know the basics first; there are three main levels of programming:



Assembly - Simplest language uses direct register and processor access [don't try this yet] {See Note 1}

Low Level - English words but still complicated [try this when you are more confident]

High Level - Basically English but still structured [Try this first]



Best high level language for beginners in my opinion is Visual basic (VB) and it is relatively safe and easy to learn



Buy Visual Studio because it includes visual basic and everything you could need in the future when you get more confident:

http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Visual-Studio-Professional-Version/dp/B000CSX23M/sr=8-1/qid=1159108614/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-9427185-6313550?ie=UTF8&s=software

Answer 12

I would say purchase a self-tutorial book and go at it at home. I found that it is something that you will develop your own pace at. So when you teach yourself at home you can learn more at your own pace and not rushing to complete assignments handed out by professors.

Answer 13

1)C programming by Dennis Ritchie the best on this Planet.

2)Download free turbo compiler(http://www.pitt.edu/~stephenp/misc/downloadTC.html)

3)Put in loads of practice.

4) good luck

Answer 14

try the newsgroup: alt.comp.lang.learn.cc++

you can search for it though google groups and you will find all the info you need there.



But personally, I would start with C++ rather than C.

Answer 15

I think new programmers should learn ASP.NET

Answer 16

http://www.google.com and search for

C+ programming