Programming?

Question

Hi,

I'm 13 years old whose looking to get into programming. I've already owned a successful website using 'IWeb' on my apple mac. I'm business minded , bilingual and 'm in the top 1% of students my age in Britain.

Most of the great business leaders started early for example Bill Gates who at 13 years old made $20,000 a month through a programming company. I'm looking to be able to understand programming on computers ( I use apple ) and how I can use that to construct a site which is extremely complicated.

If there is any experienced programmers out there who could explain in more detail what to use and also in more detail if there is any online course I could take to start programming.

Thanks to anyone who responds.

Lewis

Answer 1

I started getting into programming when I was around 12 years old too. The first language I played with was BASIC (GW-BASIC, QBASIC, etc.) Later, my friends and I wanted to build a computer game for a computer bulletin board (BBS) so I read books on the C and C++ languages and used that to develop our game. By the time I was 14 I owned my own software development company -- I wasn't making $20k/year like you said Gates was, but it was enjoyable and I learned a lot.



Today I still own that company and it has become quite successful.



I don't like Macs at all because, in my opinion, they stiffle innovation. Apple wants to be the source of all software for their computers. PCs on the other hand have always encouraged 3rd party development.



Anyways, if I were you, I would study some simple programming languages like Java, C++, etc.



Good luck.

Answer 2

What I'd recommend is to get involved in a specific project just fiddle around with it. There are many open-source projects which are quite interesting



Personally I'm very interested in web-GIS programming, which is interesting if you're into web programming since there are so many things that haven't been done yet! If you like JavaScript/AJAX then take a look at OpenLayers, it's an open-source web-mapping API. Using it can be simple of complex, depending on what you do.



Thats just one thing though. Basically, just get involved in a community! It's something I wish I'd done sooner since there are so many interesting projects around.



The best way to learn how to program is to just do it, in whatever language. There is always good material a google search away whether it's a tutorial or a mailing list. It would be good to start with a major language (I'd suggest Java) to help get you into some good programming habits, and if you're into web-development you can make some nice Java applets!

Answer 3

If you are thinking about development in a professional capacity, then starting with C# or Java makes strategic sense. You can start with a pace as slow or fast as desired; the time investment will be worth it. There are many good books (some free at http://mindview.net/Books/DownloadSites) and courses to assist with these powerful object-oriented languages. With your background, you might consider starting with PHP instead. For online tutorials, check my links below...



If you are a hobbyist, then Python or Ruby should be considered. During the 70's and 80's, the answer would have been Basic (primarily Microsoft's popular version). There are many flavors of Basic today such as VB.net, TrueBasic, Dark Basic, or Microsoft Office VBA. Some truly swear by Delphi (based on Pascal) but it has a rather limited audience.



On the cheap, you can simply start with JavaScript built into every good browser. JavaScript is very easy to learn and has webpage utility for DHTML interactions but will likely breed bad programming habits. However, the coding experience and constructs can translate fairly well to Java programming. I should mention that shell coding on Linux or Unix boxes will also provide programming experience that translates to other languages (procedural types).



If you have the time, select a couple languages to dabble in. Each tool has their own strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, there is no "best" language to master. IBM once thought they could create the ultimate general purpose language by mixing Cobol, Fortran, and Algol together; it was a mild success for their mainframes but didn't spread any further.



I would recommend you avoid functional, logic/list-based or rule-based languages initially. They can be easy to learn but the experience won't translate well to other languages. Therefore, avoid Haskel, Prolog, Lisp, Scheme, etc. There are hundreds of special purpose languages that won't help during transitions. It has its place, but I wouldn't recommend you start with a stack-oriented language (e.g. Forth).

Answer 4

well, if you were using a windows computer, i would say visual basic. as it is, you may be able to do this anyway. unfortunately, macs are not my area of expertise. (i learned coding at school, and, well... we had a mac once... the administration came in and took it. i think they threw it away.

anyway, i don't know anything about iweb, but if it is like adobe dreamweaver, then i think you should get some practice with just html and css and those kinds of languages.

Answer 5

u r quite ambitious and its good to be as every one have to prove themselves sooner or later.



As far as programming career is concerned you must have a good plan for it and the more important thing is that how you execute your all ideas.

So just plan from starting such as

1. what kind of site you want to develop

2. what are the language you want to use to develop it

3. and what are the complexity's you can face etc...



I would suggest you to read all these things from online free tutorial websites where you can find technical tutorial with examples.

See what i found that helped me to learn programming very easily.

http://www.roseindia.net/java

i have given u the link of java its good to develop complex as well as simple site.



and if you face any tech related problem, search for answer here will surly get

http://www.roseindia.net/answers/questions/



any ways try it and good luck !!