7 replies to this topic

[dmehling]

I need some advice on what route to take in learning to be a programmer. I have been considering the idea of getting a second bachelor's degree, this time in CS. But, do I really need to do that, considering that there are tons of free resources available not to mention some the free courses from MIT and Stanford? I don't really think I can be a full-time programmer, and will probably only be interested in doing freelance jobs on the side.

[brownhead]

Go to cplusplus.com and read through the tutorial there. Then just write any programs that you think of. It's a great way to learn C++.

[artificial]

Google for some programming languages and take the one you like the most. There are hundreds of free tutorials on the web (for example the Wikibooks).

Greets,
artificial

[AxleCage]

First off it really depends on what you are wanting to program. If you want to program for cross-platform I would suggest to read up on Java and learn that. If you want windows sleek design I would suggest C#. If you want to program for Linux, I would suggest C/C++. Web Programming, php/html/MySql/javascript/ajax. You want easy gui design for windows Visual Basic/Visual C++/C#. Once you have decided what to program for thats when you can start learning.

Google is your friend, you can find thousands of introduction articles on any of those languages. If you are not planning on doing Programming full time I don't think I would go back to school. You would be able to get the basic understand from articles to start off on low level freelance jobs and as you gain more experience and read more advance articles you will be able to move on up to harder freelances jobs. It is all about a matter of preference.

I wish you well on your journey on learning programming, its not a easy road, but it pays off!

[eafkuor]

I have one advice: when you start to be fairly good with a language (i.e. you are able to use third party SDKs), put all your efforts into creating one big project. At one point, just stop doing stupid little programs, as complicated as they may be, and start working on bigger and bigger projects.

[stevie754]

I learned Java in school as my first language the important thing I think is to crasp the priciples and basic concepts of whatever language you start off in, once you know these they are pretty much the standard accross most other languages you just need to learn the different syntaxes.

I personally have went on and started to learn JavaScript, C++, and a little VB. I'm not saying I'm amazing at these but I know enough to get by in my placement and do what needs to be done.

[stevie754]

Anneka2 said:

Be sure to not confuse JS with Java!

WHO ME?

[rocketboy9000]

If you're just looking to start, try Ruby or Perl.
For games and other super speed stuff, use C or C++.
For server-side stuff, use PHP or Perl.
For client-side stuff, use Javascript.
For applications with slick UI that don't need speed, use Python or Ruby.
Cross-platform is really not a good reason for using Java. Code in any language can be cross-platform if it uses the right libraries.