Want to learn to program

A_Clock

Ive always wanted to learn to program, but don't know where to even start! I don't wanna do games or for money, just like a casual thing i can do in my own time. What would be the best to start with? python, C, Visual or something else I once got to play around in VB6 and that was great I just need someone to point me in the right direction, and ill go from there!

Thanks in advance (hopefully)

Astaroth

C# would be my preference if I was starting again (I just do a little bit for fun on websites - asp.net) but currently do a tiny bit of VB.Net

As to how to do it... I tried to teach myself from a suitably titled book however I havent had that great a success - would be interested in any other suggestions.

Wombat

I think this is almost an unanswerable question because there are so many different programming languages available and each has its own function and purpose.

What you really need to decide is what function and purpose do you want to achieve with your programming and that will determine which language to start with.

For example, if you were interested in website building then HTML, PHP, MySQL etc. may be the way to go. For programs that perform tasks on your PC you might be better going the Visual Basic route or something similar.

movieman

Microsoft now have freely downloadable versions of all their languages, so you can try them all out and see which you find most useful .

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/default.aspx

baby_frogmella

Hi

C++ is one of the most powerful and difficult languages to learn. However I learnt C++ in a matter of weeks by reading 'Beginning C++: The Complete Language' Its not cheap @ £39 but in my view it was worth every penny....also read the other reviews on amazon, they're all happy!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beginning-C++-Complete-Ivor-Horton/dp/186100012X

A_Clock

movieman wrote:

Microsoft now have freely downloadable versions of all their languages, so you can try them all out and see which you find most useful .

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/default.aspx

Are them express versions any good?

Thanks baby frogmella, will check it out!

esuhl

VBA is a good language for beginners. It's built in to MS Office applications and is just a different "flavour" of VB geared towards Excel, Word or whatever.

There are a few demo snippets of code at the following link, but Google for VBA and Excel and I'm sure you'll find more!

http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/9245/

Good luck.

movieman

Are them express versions any good?

I use the free C++ version for everything I do at home. However, some of the Microsoft libraries are missing, so you might need to download some equivalent free libraries instead.

I've been using http://wxwindows.org/ libraries for user interface stuff, which also means that in theory the C++ programs can run on Linux and other operating systems too.

nej

LISP:eek:

Seriously, depends what you want to do.

For desktop stuff VB is very, very easy, but often considered rubbish by C++ guys. I've got a few components written in VB, though and they work great. Very good for throwing together quick apps.

But, either VB.NET or C# is probably the way to go. As you're starting afresh go for C# which would be marginally harder than VB.NET, but not by much. It'd also be very easy to pickup Java from there.

If you want web stuff, look at ASP.NET and PHP.

Learning SQL to a decent standard is always helpful, too.

C++ is the ultimate, but might be a bit scary at first!

browolf

learn something useful like php. that way you can can program with a purpose like having your own custom built website. at the same time set up a linux box as as webserver; you only need apache mysql and php. its easy these days to host your own webserver on a broadband connection.

Wombat

If you want to set your PC up as a server, then I'd recommend using Wamp5:

http://www.wampserver.com/en/

It instals Apache, PHP and MySQL together with PHPMyAdmin and SQLLiteManager and everything works together beautifully.