Programming advice

kosstr12 · 08-13-2007, 09:23 PM

I'm currently 13, and I'm in the 8th grade. I've been doing web design for 5 years, and I'm ready learn something new. I would like to get into programming, but I don't know where to start. I want to start out just making simple programs, but hopefully extend my knowledge as time goes on. Any suggestions on where to start? What languages to learn? Other advice?

Thanks,
koss

kosstr12 · 08-14-2007, 02:51 AM

I really need some help, I'm clueless when it comes to programming

Inigoesdr · 08-14-2007, 04:24 AM

Look up some tutorials. You might want to try your hand at scripting languages like PHP/JavaScript/ASP/Ruby before learning compiled languages like C++, C#, etc. Ruby on Rails might be a good start for you. =]

kosstr12 · 08-14-2007, 12:07 PM

So you think I should learn some server side scripting before I start programming?

and thanks for your help

croatiankid · 08-14-2007, 12:35 PM

They're both programming (languages), except that usually server side scripts aren't compiled (for example into an .exe like C and Java; you can view the source code like PHP and ASP), but rather "interpreted". This wikipedia article has a section called "Interpreted vs compiled languages" you should read.

Mhtml · 08-14-2007, 12:42 PM

I agree that a scripting language is a good place to start, they're generally very forgiving and handle all of your memory for you. Server side languages are a nice idea, and I'd recommend PHP in that case. JavaScript tends to be a bit more complicated - mostly because you'd be dealing with DOM more than likely, and some people find it hard to grasp Object Oriented principles early on. Other scripting languages include Python and LUA, Python would be my recommendation overall though - it promotes excellent learning of programming fundamentals without daunting (however preferable as I see it) syntax.

Compiled languages have a lot more to them, and to be a decent C/C++ programmer it is best to have an in-depth technical understanding of how the language itself is compiled into machine code. You can't really skip the theory, otherwise your programs will end up bloated, stringy and segfaulting all over the place. Once you understand the fundamentals of procedural and Object Oriented Programming (OOP) through learning scripting languages, I'd recommend a start in C++. It's fast, lets you work on a low level and easily portable (perhaps not as easy as Java many would argue - but that depends how good you are and besides it's much faster

).

http://www.python.org
http://www.lua.org
http://www.php.net
http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp

You should also check out this thread in the programming forum, it's has some more information.
http://www.codingforums.com/showthread.php?t=120349

kosstr12 · 08-14-2007, 09:03 PM

I'm pretty well educated in javascript and im looking for info on how to script programs on a computer(.exe's)

brad211987 · 08-14-2007, 09:21 PM

I would go with C++ or Java if you are not going to go with server side scripting. The syntax of these 2 are similar, and if you learn one, you won't have a hard time learning the other.

oracleguy · 08-14-2007, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brad211987

I would go with C++ or Java if you are not going to go with server side scripting. The syntax of these 2 are similar, and if you learn one, you won't have a hard time learning the other.

C# wouldn't be a bad choice either, it also has a similar syntax as the two languages mentioned above.