4 replies to this topic

[Medyo]

Hello everyone!

I am a newbie. Although I've been in the I.T. field so some time now I am new to programming. I did some reading on basic programming and languages to use for newbies and got myself started with Phyton and C#. I did the reading, downloaded tutorials, and even got myself a video tutorial for C#.

I got the general idea of the planning, designing, and etc. of programming. However, I am at lost when it comes to actually typing the program. It seems like there are hundreds, if not thousands of commands that are available for use. I've downloaded the Visual C# Express application but there are just too many commands to choose from that I don't know which one to use.

How does a programmer know what command or code to type when he wants a certain action to be done? How does a newbie learn this? I mean, is there a list of all the commands available that one can just scan through and pick. Is there a database or something that tells the programmer that this command performs this action; or this is the command that will perform that action?

I understand that experience and time will make me remember certain codes and be able to type faster. But as a beginner, if there is a certain task that I need to do, how can I determine what command to use? Tutorials and readings pretty much give out the same basic commands. I may be wrong but I can't just simply imagine how someone can have hundreds or thousands of commands memorized in his head.

Any help will be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks!

[WingedPanther]

The MSDN website has a lot of good information about the commands, and google's good about getting you to the right spot in MSDN. A lot of it is just a matter of playing with the commands for a while, getting frustrated when one command doesn't work well for a purpose, finding the one that's more suitable, etc.

You learn all this stuff through use. How many words do you know in English? How do you keep all their meanings straight? When you write a book report, how do you decide which words to use? It's the same things. Writing a lot, speaking a lot, getting to the point where you think in English.

[Medyo]

WingedPanther:
Thank you! I didn't see it that way and you bring up an excellent comparison between knowing English words and programming commands.

In writing, we can write whatever we want to write and we will have all the words we need to accomplish what we are trying to say. Is this also the case in programming? Whatever program we want to create, whatever ideas we want to bring in, or whenever we want to accomplish something that’s never been done before, will the same programming commands allow us to do this?

Let’s use virtualization for example. When the people that thought of running another operating system as a virtual machine or server on top of an existing operating system, were they able to accomplish this using whatever is available out there? Or did they have to come up with new programming codes, commands, or whatever we call it? Even more, when Microsoft invented Windows, did they use the same programming language and codes that were already out there or did they have to come up with something new?

Edited by Medyo, 16 January 2010 - 05:59 PM.

[WingedPanther]

Pretty much. The trick with programming is the more features you know in a language, the more you can do. As an example, in C++, you can do literally EVERYTHING without ever including anything from the standard library. But, if you #include <iostream>, input and output suddenly become a lot easier. You can recreate it all, but why?

By the same token, if I want to build a house, I can either start cutting down trees, or I can go down to Lowe's and get some 2x4's. Which is easier?

MS created NEW functions to help programs communicate with the OS in a controlled, consistent way. It makes programming easier, because the OS does stuff for you, and it helps make sure people don't do stupid stuff as well :)

[Medyo]

Thank you very much WingedPanther! I guess I'm off to learning C++ instead and sticking to it.