8 replies to this topic

[icE]

I'm a network engineering student and I've always been interested in programming. I've taken classes in linux scripts and batch files but never learned any languages. I'd like to know where to start and what realistic things I could do when I'm first starting out. I've read around and most likely will start with Python. I also have Visual Studio 2010 that I got from Dreamspark because I am a student but at first look it is overwhelming and I have no idea what to do with it.

Can you point me in the right direction to get started with programming?

[artificial]

There are several approaches:
1) You buy a book and learn a language
2) You use tutorials
3) You ask someone to teach you

Admittedly, the first two points are the most common. Search for books on the Internet. If you want to start with Python, take a look at this: Link
The result of your work will be somewhat between a simple Hello-World application and a high-end-next-generation game, depending on how ambitious you are. ;)

Greets,
artificial

[WingedPanther]

Bash scripting is a programming language, though fairly primitive. What you can do there is roughly what you can expect to do when first learning other languages.

[TeenChristian]

I've heard python is a nice language to learn. If your leaning it that direction I would say your should probably check these websites out:
The Python Tutorial — Python v2.7 documentation
Especially this one:
Sthurlow.com - Home
and:
Dive Into Python

Although I chose C++ as my first language, I think python is also a great path to choose. I know alot of aspects of programming languages seem kind of complex and intimidating, but instead of looking at really advanced code, start small and work your way up so you can begin to understand more advanced code.

I hope I was of help to you ^^

[TCristoforo]

Hi Ice,

Programming is a very overwhelming thing to start a journey in, but it's also very fun. If you are simply looking to learn the concepts of a programming language, I would actually suggest downloading a program called "Alice". It is developed by Carnegie Mellon University and is Free of charge. It comes with a drag and drop interface and plenty of tutorials to get started with. Alternatively, if you choose to dive right in to pure syntax. I would get a book on Visual Basic .NET. VB is considered one of the easiest languages to learn and will provide you with enough tools and understanding to get you on your way.

-Tony

[Alexander]

You shouldn't just learn a language for the heck of it, If you're wishing to do more text processing PERL is a great task (especially as a very advanced shell language) or you may want to move to Java for programming of anything not the most low level.

IMO PERL > Python in experience, libraries and documentation.

[outsid3r]

The best way to start is starting from the beginning.

[manux]

Nullw0rm said:

IMO PERL > Python in experience, libraries and documentation.

Hmm... PERL has some nice ways of doing things that can be appealing, but personally, I feel that the OOP in perl is poorly done, at least not intuitive for me and Python's syntax caught me. And, Python has a lot of users/libraries/tutorials/doc, I couldn't compare to perl because I've never really searched, but it's far from an underground language.

@icE
Python can be great to do scripting, as a replacement to linux scripts and batch files, plus you can incorporate complex features at the same time.
If you want a change from networking, you might enjoy learning a compiled language like C++ to make some apps, but I still think an interpreted language is best to begin with (Perl, Python, Ruby,...)

[selenacici]

start from learning the basics like read some books about it..
if who haven't learned about any languages then you can you can used google translate..
you will be able to understand that in that way.. that would be helpful..




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Edited by selenacici, 12 August 2010 - 11:38 AM.