How can I learn programming?

Post Reply New Topic

I am pretty good at using a computer, I have learned some low level network troubleshooting. I learn software in general fast. My meager attempts at learning programming (which I'm interested in and everyone says I would be good at) have only taught me how to handle repeated and miserable failure.
Every resource I have tried (I have only tried free ones as I haven't the budget to waste) has been useless. (Esp. Microsoft)
I see a lot of step by step walk-troughs (that usually fail) but nothing that actually goes into the theories behind it. So at the end of a successful one, I still know nothing! Is it hopeless?

What language(s) are you trying to learn? It might just be your trying the wrong language - I cannot learn C no matter what I try (or java) however I picked up both Visual Basic and 8086 assembler without too many tears so it might be an allergy to the language rather than inability.

To learn the fundamentals of programming there are few things as good as an old fashioned BASIC.
There are lots of books on BASIC programming and lots of information on line there are many BASIC interpreters to choose from as well.

Interpreted languages are best for learning because you can experiment with commands by directly typing them into the interpreter.

If you can get an old copy of DOS (3 or less) it includes GWBASIC which is one of my favourites. later versions have QBASIC which I do not like as much because it does not use line numbers but many people do like it. You can find many other BASIC interpreters about the web for all operating systems.

You will not be able to write very graphic intensive applications but it is ideal for learning all the fundamental program structures these are applicable to almost all other programming languages.

well if you get the programs needed to test your programs go to mutford.net, it has a lot of cool programing instructions. kk

A thought that occurs to me, is... can you think of a problem you would like to be able to solve with a computer program?

I.e. dredging it up from forty years ago, my first program was a "Sieve of Erastosthenes" written in PL/I, on, I think, something like three punched cards (I.e. about 216 bytes).

Maybe it doesn't matter particularly what language you try, provided you have a clear idea of what it is you want to do.

=============
Actually, that's my favourite book: "Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs". No mention of what particular language (the book happens to use Pascal). The art of programming is being able to identify what data structures you need, then inventing and refining the algorithm you use. Any language will do. Some languages are better suited to particular classes of problems, but that's all - just "better suited".
=============

So - what sort of problem would you like to solve?


PS. I had a look at "mutford.net". Dark blue tiny text on a black background is not my favourite, broken links all over the place (RÉSUMÉ on the front page) and HTML errors (click on the W3C XHTML link on the front page) on a site teaching HTML?

Heh. My first major coding projects were a rewrite of the Unix program 'primes,' followed by a program which tested error detection algorithms by brute force.

We're an odd lot.

Start working on a project and learn whatever is necessary to complete the project. I have done that, and that will teach you a lot.

I am personally no longer interested in learning application programming on my own, however. I have found other interests to be more exciting and productive uses of my time. Also, I had a bad experience--complete failure--on my first for-pay application programming project. I would have just gone past that and tried again, but I learned then that it was not for me as a job or career because it was boring, tedious, and involved more tinkering that I would like, more than subjects like math, where you have all the tools available, ready and working, where only your mind is the limitation, or even computer hardware assembly.

I did later write some PHP code for a website, which worked out great and I was well paid for it. I'm still interested in web design / web programming.

Your problem seems to me, that you try to learn Theory without having a practical goal you want to achieve. You need a project to keep you going.

I'm currently maintainer of a open source plattform game; we use C for the engine, LUA for scripting levels and a few perl scripts for one-off tasks. If you're willing to put in quite a few hours of work (we'll help you get going) for no money in return, i'm sure me and my team will welcome you with open arms

The only requierements are: You like playing 2D plattform games, you are willing to use beta-levels tool to develop beta-level software and you are willing to follow a mad Aspie (=me) into the realms of good old-style programming to re-create the golden 80's on modern computers...

I'm noticing a pattern .

Unfortunately, the things I would like to do are light-years away from any beginning programming.

I have tried Visual Basic (free version via microshaft). It has many capabilities , the tutorials are useless (I saw an entire book that seemed to revolve around how useless it is on Amazon.) They say do this... now do this... Congratulations you've done it!! I have successfully followed instructions and learned nothing. (Pat, pat, goood monkey.)

Everything I have read has pointed to Basic as a good learning language. Maybe Visual Basic 07 is a bad way to learn it. Can anyone point me to a good incarnation of Basic for learning?

Why BASIC, anyway. There are more modern languages with very good books and tutorials. I personally recommend learing perl. You can start quite simple, yet build complex business applications too. The book i'd recommend is "Learning Perl" from O'Reilly.

If you're on windows and you're serious about programming, i really recommend you also spend the money on the ActiveState Perl Development Kit . I use it about 10-20 hours a week at work; the graphical debugger alone must've saved my neck a hundred times by now, not to mention, that you can write a complete windows service within an hour or two...

Try Haskell. It's different from most other languages for sure, but it would be fun to see how a beginner would handle it.

nitro2k01 wrote

Is this a programmer joke?

cavac wrote

It is commonly recommended?(picture sheepish shrug) Is there a cheap (or preferably free) way to learn it? zebedee suggested trying a different language in case I just have a problem with that one.

It's not a joke at all. This is a good place to get started with Haskell: http://www.haskell.org/learning.html

This is a programmer joke:

I suggest you try learning INTERCAL. Once you have mastered that, no other language will cause you any problems.

Although I haven't used it, Piet looks good if you like graphics.

Also, if you prefer to save on files by writing in two languages at once, Whitespace would be your language of second choice.

End of joke.

If you are not sure which language to go for, why not try them all? On here, I have currently got installed the following: C, C++, Java, KTurtle(?), mono (C#, etc), boo, TCL, bwbasic, gforth, INTERCAL(yes!), pforth, yabasic, yforth, Perl, Python, PHP. I may well have a few more. That was just a quick scan through.

Oh! I forgot my 68K based Minerva with its SuperBASIC and my own various implementations of Forth.

Also, I've got flex/bison for whenever I want to produce a compiler for a new language (or to re-implement an old one).

============

So what are these "problems" that you describe as "the things I would like to do are light-years away from any beginning programming"?

Technically speaking, all computer languages are the same as one another. However, it may well be that the language that best fits your problem may be one like awk, Pascal, LISP, Focal, Algol, PL/I, APL, squeak(Smalltalk), Beef, Coral, BCPL, Eiffel, erlang, Fortran, G, Haskell, M4, Occam, Prolog, Ruby, Unlambda, or a few thousand others.

lau-

THAT'S NUTZ!

No... Nutz Sparkling Beverages is a line of discontinued sparkling sodas. It was produced by Nutz Beverages Inc. around the year 2000 and came in several flavors, including peanut, pistachio, hazelnut and banana nut. The soda has been featured on both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

There is "Nutz 'n Boltz v3.01 for PowerBASIC":
but that isn't a whole programming language, just some library stuff.