I need help about programming. READ INFO.?

Question

It is summer vacation and I want to be familiarize with Pyton and Java language while at home. The problem is, I dont know what to download. I mean the more I search, the more it is getting complicated. Here is my questions:

Please dont answer with deep terms, I'm new in Computer Science:

1. One says it is great to have an Notepad++ in creating programs. It is a text editor, right? What is the primary function of text editor in creating programs?

2. What really is an Integraded Development Environment? What does it do?

3. Do I need to have separate IDEs for Pyton and Java? Or are there any IDE that can be for both?

4. As I read the definition of IDE, what is GUI?

5. What programming tools should I have?

6. What is Java JDK and SDK?

Answer 1

Notepad++ is indeed very good. I myself use vi.



The classical toolchain for programming is

do

edit in text editor

compile in compiler

execute and note bugs OR run under debugger and trace

while (not working)



An IDE combines the editor, compiler, and debugger to make things run much more smoothly. They also give you much better debugging resources. You don't need an IDE, but some people like them. Eclipse is a configurable IDE that can be set up to support both of your languages, I'm pretty sure.



GUI means graphical user interface (mouse and window stuff); many IDEs are GUI-based, but not all. Your own software may be GUI-based.



SDK means software development kit; the software and libraries needed to make new applications. The Java SDK is a package you can download and install to get going writing Java apps/applets/scripts.



There really aren't any other tools needed unless you want to use yacc, SQL, TCL/TK, PHP, OpenGL, or other features that aren't found in programming languages. It's not a problem to add them later.

Answer 2

Well, for one it's Python, not Pyton.



Secondly, the tutorials at thenewboston.com do a better job of explaining all these questions than most anyone on here could. It has Python and Java tutorials.



I can give a quick answer to most of these though, but the tutorials at the link above will help you a lot.

1/2. When you write code, you write it in an editor. IDEs and text editors are both editors. IDEs give more features for the cost of performance (they can be very resource-intensive), and text editors are more basic, are harder to use, but give you a better overall understanding of how to code without help.



Personally I use an IDE instead of a text editor for Java and Python. An IDE suggests code for you, auto-indents your code etc. Since Java's so large, it's almost impossible to remember where everything is, and an IDE will help you with that.

For Java, I use Eclipse as my IDE, and for Python I use the one that comes with Python when you install it, IDLE.



3. Yes, it's good to use separate IDEs. It's cleaner, and generally if you have an IDE focused on one programming language it'll have more features tailored to that language, instead of a general IDE trying to do everything and not quite getting it as good as a language-specific one.



4. GUI is a Graphical User Interface. At first you'll just be coding command line programs, but as you get more advanced you'll get to building more fancy interfaces.

Look up command prompt. That is a CUI, or command user interface. Most other programs you use will use a GUI, like Chrome, Skype, Windows Explorer etc.

The distinction becomes more clear as you move along in programming, trust me.



5. The programming language itself (you have to download Python and Java themselves), as well as the IDEs of your choice. The tutorials above, should you use them, will help you through installing all this stuff.



6. You'll mostly only use the JDK at first. It stands for Java Development Kit, and includes the components of Java required for you to write your own programs. Most people have what's called the JRE, the Java Runtime Environment, which can only run programs that other people have already written.

Answer 3

1. Notepad++ is a text editor, the primary function is to...edit text. Nothing more to it. If you want your code to compile and run use an IDE.

2. (Google this it explains everything about an IDE)

3. If you want to write Java programs I would use a program called Eclipse. If you want a generalized IDE I would use Visual Studio.

4. (Google this)

5. Your brain

6. They are development kits



For all you other general questions, Google is your friend.